Tobacco control is key to addressing NCDs Tobacco use is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease and cancer, as well as chronic respiratory disease. With the World Health Organization’s World Health Statistics 2011 showing that 4 in 10 men and 1 in 11 women use tobacco, tobacco control is a top priority for reversing the epidemic of NCDs, especially in low-income countries where both tobacco use and NCDs are increasing.

This year’s observance of World No Tobacco Day falls in the midst of preparations for September’s United Nations high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases. By controlling tobacco, we can go a long way towards addressing many of these chronic ailments, including cancer and heart disease. The use of tobacco, which is highly addictive, killed approximately 100 million people in the twentieth century, and unless we act, it could kill up to a billion in this century.

GENEVA, 13 May 2011 -- An increasing number of countries are facing a double burden of disease as the prevalence of risk factors for chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and cancers increase and many countries still struggle to reduce maternal and child deaths caused by infectious diseases, for the Millennium Development Goals, according to the World Health Statistics 2011 released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today.