World-wide mortality from tobacco is likely to rise from about 4 million deaths a year last year to about 10 million a year in 2030. In public health terms, this is comparable to the HIV epidemic. Over 70 per cent of the deaths will be in the developing world. The implications are obvious. Tobacco is not only a human tragedy.
Tobacco also burdens our health systems.
It costs taxpayers money. It hampers the productivity of our economies. We have seen this happening in the U.S. and in Europe. But now, these burdens are hitting developing countries, countries which need all their resources to build their social and physical infrastructure. As you know very well, developing countries have no extra money to spend on the unnecessary costs of a man-made epidemic.