Between 1990 and 2020, the world death toll from tobacco will rise from 3.0 to 8.4 million per year. Virtually this entire annual increase is expected to occur in developing countries. Now responsible for one in ten deaths, it will claim one in six by 2030 - ten million lives a year. Put in perspective, over the next 30 years, the number of people expected to die from tobacco-related illness exceeds the death totals for AIDS, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, homicide, suicide, and automobile accidents combined. Reinforcing the Foundation's focus on equity in health, the initiative will emphasize tobacco's impact upon the poor and ways to respond to this disproportionate burden of disease.
Tobacco use is more prevalent among the poor and amplifies other health problems.
Tobacco-related disease can be a major precipitant of medical impoverishment. And tobacco consumption exacts a high opportunity cost on poor households, limiting resources available for feeding the family. With this support, we hope that developing countries will themselves be better positioned to tackle the challenges of tobacco use over the long term and on their own terms. The Rockefeller Foundation stressed that this new initiative can only be a small part of the platform of support necessary to reduce tobacco use among the poor in developing countries. In order to achieve substantial and sustainable long-term gains, the Rockefeller Foundation will work to encourage other organizations to make tobacco control an important part of their funding strategies.