On World Heart Day and before governments of over 180 countries meet for global tobacco treaty Prof Rishi Sethi called upon stronger implementation of evidence-backed tobacco control measures to prevent avoidable burden of diseases that is not only needlessly crippling our health systems and draining over US$ 1.4 trillion every year but also resulting in over 7 million untimely deaths. Prof Sethi had chaired scientific experts committee to draft India’s first-ever national guidelines for management of deadliest heart attacks.
Next week, as many as 181 countries will convene for the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP8) of the global tobacco treaty to shut off one of the last avenues of influence the tobacco industry has to interfere with public health policymaking at the talks. At the conference, countries will advance a provision that will prohibit the tobacco industry from exploiting public badges, which are primarily used by tobacco industry representatives to delay, block and weaken the treaty.
In the past year, in advance of COP8, Big Tobacco has escalated its attempts to re-normalize the deadly industry: doubling down on promoting heat-not-burn products and launching a billion dollar foundation in hopes of regaining lost footing in policymaking spaces. This year, governments will also advance policies to eliminate illicit trade.
