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WHO Flags Gaps in Global Tobacco Control as India Receives Bloomberg Award

WHO calls for steep tax increases on tobacco to sustain gains against industry interference.

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The report released at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin focuses on the six proven WHO MPOWER tobacco control measures to reduce tobacco use, which claims over 7 million lives a year.
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Overview

  • The WHO’s Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report finds that 155 countries now enforce at least one MPOWER measure, protecting 6.1 billion people compared with just 1 billion in 2007.
  • Tobacco taxation remains the least adopted MPOWER policy with 134 countries failing to reach best-practice levels, prompting WHO to urge steep price hikes to curb use and fund health services.
  • Graphic health warnings have expanded to 110 countries, covering 62 percent of the global population, yet inconsistent enforcement and weak smokeless tobacco packaging rules persist.
  • Regulation of electronic nicotine delivery systems rose from 122 to 133 countries since 2022, but more than 60 nations still lack any rules on e-cigarettes.
  • India earned a 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Award for best-practice cessation support and warning labels and saw Michael Bloomberg launch a $20 million Accelerator Fund to bolster tobacco control in lower-income nations.