The World Health Organization (WHO) marked World No Tobacco Day on Sunday with a warning that tobacco firms are deliberately designing flavoured products and digital campaigns to addict children worldwide.
The agency said the industry relies on flavours, sleek packaging and social media to normalise nicotine and trap young people in lifelong addiction. It framed the warning around this year’s campaign, themed “Unmask the appeal,” which focuses on countering tobacco and nicotine addiction.
WHO estimates that at least 40 million children aged 13 to 15 globally report current use of at least one tobacco product. The agency counts more than 1.3 billion tobacco users overall, with around 80 percent living in low and middle income countries, where illness and death fall hardest.
In its Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO reported about 5.5 million children aged 13 to 15 already using tobacco. Adolescents there are nine times more likely than adults to use e-cigarettes, and use among some young boys has reached 30 percent in certain areas.
The agency said more than half of young people in several countries report seeing tobacco advertising, with exposure climbing to between 80 and 90 percent in some surveys. Much of that promotion now spreads online, where regulators struggle to enforce existing rules.
“These products are designed to create addiction early,” said WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy.
WHO urged governments to enforce advertising bans, strengthen graphic health warnings, raise tobacco taxes and regulate e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Tobacco still kills more than 8 million people each year, according to the agency.
