Will governments make tobacco industry pay for all the harms it causes?

[watch the launch of Global Week of Action to Make Big Tobacco Pay] "How can we allow the tobacco industry to fill its coffers while we the people have to empty our pockets to fend for and suffer all the harms tobacco industry has caused? It is high time to shift the financial burden from people and communities to the tobacco industry for ALL the harms caused by its businesses," said Shobha Shukla while opening the launch of the historic Global Week of Action to Make Big Tobacco Pay.

[video] Launch: #MakeBigTobaccoPay Global Week of Action + Media Briefing

Launch: #MakeBigTobaccoPay Global Week of Action + Media briefing

[Register now] Join us on 1st June 2026, Monday, in Launch of MAKE BIG TOBACCO PAY Global Week of Action as well as media briefing.

APCAT Summit unites local governments to save lives from tobacco, TB, AMR and NCDs

Summit of sub-national government leaders from over 121 cities of 12 countries in Asia and the Pacific region unitedly passed an important declaration in Jakarta, Indonesia to save lives from preventable causes of diseases and untimely deaths, like tobacco use, TB, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

[video] Myanmar's leadership on implementing standardised plain packaging of tobacco products

[video] Make #HealthForAll a reality for everyone, says Indonesia's Deputy Home Minister Bima Arya Sugiarto

Tobacco-free and nicotine-free future is a bedrock to deliver on #EndTB and SDGs

According to the latest WHO Global TB Report 2025 released a week ago, tobacco smoking is among the top-5 risk factors for the deadliest of all infectious diseases worldwide - tuberculosis (TB). In countries with alarmingly high tobacco use, like Indonesia, tobacco use is the biggest risk factor for TB. Tobacco is also among the major common risk factors for a range of other non-infectious (or non-communicable) diseases, such as heart diseases and stroke, cancers, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, among others.

Will governments make Big Tobacco pay and kick Big Polluters out from Treaty meets?

[watch the recording] As intergovernmental Treaty meetings open on climate (UNFCCC) and tobacco control (WHO FCTC), there is a growing call to make Big Tobacco pay and kick Big Polluters out of these Treaty negotiations. Experts have underpinned the critical importance of firewalling intergovernmental health and climate policy negotiations from corporate interference and called for advancing progress towards holding abusive corporations to account.

[video] Governments must prioritise accountability and urgent actions at climate and tobacco control Treaties

Myanmar implements standardised plain packaging to curb deadly tobacco's 'appeal'

Tobacco use poses a severe burden on Myanmar’s health and economy, killing about 64,000 people each year. Myanmar has marked a significant milestone in protecting public health and advancing global tobacco control efforts with the successful implementation of standardised plain packaging on tobacco products.

Tobacco vendor licensing plugs the loopholes in implementing lifesaving health laws

Before the intergovernmental global tobacco treaty meet opens next month, experts call for tobacco vendor licensing so that governments can enforce lifesaving tobacco control policies effectively, protect children and youth from misleading tobacco industry tactics and lies, and progress towards ending tobacco use. “No one must suffer from tobacco-related diseases or die of them,” rightly said Dr Tara Singh Bam, noted global health expert and Asia Pacific Director (Tobacco Control) of Vital Strategies.

Will governments firewall public health from tobacco industry's lies and deceptive tactics?

A new WHO report launched in June 2025, warrants stronger measures to save lives from deadly tobacco and nicotine products and hold industry liable

[video] Engaging media to expose, debunk and counter lies and deception of tobacco industry

Celebrating those who courageously stand with public health and human rights despite tobacco industry interference

photo courtesy: HealthTVonline.com

Before world leaders meet at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025 at the High-Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), it is important to underline that the major common risk factor of most NCDs is tobacco and nicotine use. Tobacco is also a major risk factor for deadliest infectious disease TB (and COVID-19). Unless we decimate (or eliminate) such risk factors, how will we deliver on the promises enshrined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030?

Commitment to end tobacco must translate to bold actions on the ground

Commitment to end tobacco must translate to bold actions on the ground, said Dr Tara Singh Bam. He exhorted the new government of Indonesia to sign and ratify the global tobacco treaty (formally called the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control or WHO FCTC) in the interest of the health and wellbeing of its people.

Toxic politics of selling addiction to children

[हिंदी] The same deceptive tricks and tactics are used by industries that profit from getting our children addicted to ultra-processed foods, high sugar products, tobacco and nicotine. Experts from the United Nations health agency – the World Health Organization (WHO) and Corporate Accountability, call for concerted efforts from the governments to put people before profit, and hold industries that do the reverse (prioritise profit over health) accountable.

[video] Live Press Conference of 10th Indonesian Conference on Tobacco Control (ICTOH 2025)

We cannot turn a blind eye to preventable epidemics if we are to deliver on SDGs

The epidemic-proportion diseases and untimely deaths caused by tobacco use are entirely preventable. Likewise, we have science-based tools and approaches to find all TB cases, treat all of them and prevent transmission of the disease. When even one TB or tobacco death is a death too many, how can one explain 1.25 million TB deaths and over 8 million tobacco-related deaths in 2023 alone? How can TB disease, that is entirely preventable (and curable), become the deadliest infectious disease worldwide?

Catapulting funding crisis into opportunity by getting on track to end TB and tobacco use

The funding crises forced upon by the US government on several low- and middle-income countries is an opportunity in disguise to improve programme efficiency and outcome and invest optimally in health and development responses from domestic coffers.

Nepal leads the world with largest pictorial health warnings on all tobacco products

Pictorial health warnings on all tobacco products are a proven and cost-effective way to prevent tobacco use among children and young people, encourage tobacco users to quit and increase awareness of deadly diseases caused by tobacco. That is why size and pictorial graphics matter because pictures say a thousand words. Nepal government decided this week to go for the largest pictorial health warnings globally on all tobacco products (100% on the front and 100% on the back packaging).