Global tobacco control drive gets sh71b injection

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The battle against tobacco has got a new lease of cash injection of up to $20m (about shillings 72 billion), New Vision Online has learnt.

The Accelerator Fund to turbocharge progress in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the tobacco epidemic continues to claim millions of lives has been announced by the Bloomberg Philanthropies.

World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025 happening in Dublin, Ireland. (Courtesy photo)

Bloomberg Philanthropies founder Michael R. Bloomberg, also WHO Global Ambassador for Non-Communicable Diseases and injuries, announced during the World Conference on Tobacco Control at the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control on June 23, 2025, in Ireland's capital, Dublin.

The fund is expected to specifically target countries lagging in implementing World Health Organisation (WHO)-recommended measures or those close to completing their policy frameworks.

“We can jump-start progress in many of these countries, and help even more cross the finish line,” Mike Bloomberg said. “This new Accelerator Fund is our way of doing exactly that.”

The global tobacco control movement has helped save tens of millions of lives, making it one of the most successful public health efforts in history. (Courtesy photo)

The tobacco burden

Despite decades of public health advocacy, tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, claiming over seven million lives annually.

Tragically, the overwhelming burden of these deaths falls on the world's most vulnerable populations, with nearly 85% of lives lost in low- and middle-income countries, where the tobacco industry continues to aggressively target young people with flashy advertising and misleading narratives about smoking.

According to WHO’s 2025 Global Tobacco Epidemic Report, although global smoking rates declined from 22.8% in 2007 to 16.4% in 2023, about one billion people still smoke, with many countries in the Global South struggling to enforce or even enact protective tobacco control policies.

According to the report, many LMICs face a cocktail of challenges, including weak enforcement mechanisms, underfunded health systems, and intense interference from the tobacco industry.

Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries, and 108th mayor of New York City. (Courtesy photo)

This resulted to failing to implement the full suite of WHO’s MPOWER measures, which include bans on tobacco advertising, graphic warning labels, cessation support, taxation, smoke-free laws, and surveillance of tobacco use.

Mauritius: A beacon for Africa

Among the six countries celebrated with the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control, Mauritius stood out as the only African nation recognised. The island nation was honoured for its bold move in adopting plain packaging for tobacco products in 2023, a first for Africa.

This milestone legislation aims to strip cigarette packs of their commercial appeal, replacing logos and bright colours with standardised designs and graphic health warnings. The Ministry of Health and Wellness in Mauritius took the lead in this initiative, inspiring neighbouring countries to consider similar legislation.

“Let us together make the world free of the death and disease caused by tobacco,” senior chief executive of the Mauritius ministry of health and wellness Sarwansingh Purmessur said.

Bloomberg Philanthropies hosts the Tobacco Control Awards in Dublin, Ireland, Monday, June 23, 2025. (Courtesy photo)

Mauritius’ achievement is not just symbolic—it’s a wake-up call for other African nations that continue to lag in policy implementation. While several African countries have ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), few have taken decisive steps like Mauritius.

The Bloomberg Initiative to reduce tobacco use has made significant strides since its inception, investing $1.6 billion in tobacco control efforts worldwide. This substantial funding, the initiative says, has yielded impressive results, including saving an estimated 35.2 million lives, supporting the implementation of 328 robust national policies, an increase from just 60 in 2007 and contributing to a reduction of 820 billion cigarette sticks sold globally between 2012 and 2024.

However, despite these achievements, 33 LMICs still lack a single MPOWER policy, and many more are yet to achieve comprehensive coverage.

Bloomberg’s new Accelerator Fund aims to bridge that gap. The $20 million commitment is expected to provide technical assistance, policy advocacy and strategic partnerships to governments and NGOs struggling to implement or finalise tobacco control measures.

Andrew Black, from the Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), reflected on two decades of global action since the treaty came into force in 2005.

“Of the 1.3 billion people still using tobacco worldwide, four out of five live in low- and middle-income countries,” Black warned. “This means that increasingly, the burden of tobacco-related disease is falling on countries least able to manage it.”

Some of the winners of Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control at World Conference on Tobacco Control. (Courtesy photo)

Black highlighted that raising tobacco taxes, implementing smoke-free laws, banning advertising, and mandating graphic health warnings on packaging.

According to FCTC such policies have prevented millions of young people from taking up smoking and supported countless adults in quitting.

“We want to see governments accelerate FCTC implementation,” he said. “Because it’s not enough to have the framework—the real impact comes when countries bring it to life with strong laws and effective enforcement.”

Target of Youth

In recent years, new challenges have emerged that are particularly difficult for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to overcome. These include the rise of digital marketing, the introduction of emerging nicotine products such as e-cigarettes, and the tobacco industry’s continued exploitation of legal loopholes and weak regulatory environments.

“The tobacco industry has changed,” Andrew Black from the Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control said.

“They are now using social media to reach new users and pushing nicotine products as safer alternatives—especially in markets where regulation is weak or outdated.”

For LMICs, which are already grappling with under-resourced health systems, these modern challenges add to the difficulty of tackling a well-financed and globally connected industry.

One particularly concerning trend is the appeal of e-cigarette flavours to young people. Vaping remains harmful to health, especially among youth. In response, the Dutch government introduced a ban on flavoured e-cigarettes—excluding tobacco flavour—in January 2024.

Early findings suggest the ban has been effective: 22% of users reported quitting e-cigarettes as a result, and most did not switch to other nicotine products. However, the rise in cross-border purchases of flavoured e-cigarettes underscores the need for stronger international cooperation to ensure such regulations are not undermined.