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NEWS |
World Health Organization Focuses On Antitobacco Efforts in Developing Nations Through Treaty
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In a pledge to reduce 8 million cancer deaths worldwide by 2015, the World Health Organization is intensifying its antitobacco efforts by focusing on developing nations.
Unlike much of the developed world where tobacco use is declining, smoking is on the upswing in many low- and middle-income countries, and worldwide cigarette consumption is actually rising. Without serious efforts to prevent youth from starting and help current smokers quit, rates of tobacco-related deaths will skyrocket this century, said Peter Boyle, Ph.D., director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, WHO's research arm. To meet this challenge, the WHO has pledged to strengthen its global tobacco surveillance, intensify its prevention efforts, and better coordinate its work with other agencies.
Most of the enforcement will come through the Framework Convention