Pakistan wins WHO s award for anti-tobacco campaign - Pakistan dawn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dawn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Given the high health costs of tobacco use, reducing smoking rates would lead to substantial health gains
Tobacco kills half of its users as has been indicated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of death in the world. It kills 8 million people every year. More than 7 million deaths are a direct result of tobacco use, while 1.2 million deaths are due to secondhand smoke.
In Pakistan, tobacco is a cause of death of around 160,100 persons every year. The youth of Pakistan are being targetted by the tobacco industry so that “replacement smokers” can be recruited. Around 1,200 Pakistani children between the ages of 6 and 15 start smoking every day.
‘Health tax to boost revenue’
Islamabad
December 27, 2020
Islamabad : Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has urged the Ministry of Finance to lay Federal Health Levy Bill in the Parliament to impose tax on tobacco and sugary drinks to boost the revenue and prevent non-communicable diseases.
In a letter to the Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Special Assistant on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan emphasized upon the need to charge Rs10 per pack of 20 cigarettes health tax on tobacco and Re1 per 250 milliliter on carbonated drinks as approved by the federal cabinet on June 18, 2019.
Sultan said the non-communicable diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease were collectively responsible for almost 68 percent of all deaths in Pakistan.