Many countries and regions have made progress in tobacco control. Currently, 5 billion people (about 60% of the world's total population) live in countries that have implemented effective tobacco control measures such as smoke-free legislation in indoor public places at the national level and graphic health warnings printed on packaging, which is four times the number ten years ago. But the new who report shows that many countries have not fully implemented policies that can save lives from tobacco, including helping people quit smoking.

Recently, the World Health Organization released the seventh WHO global tobacco epidemic report, two years since the last report was released.

Why is the tobacco epidemic an epidemic like infectious diseases? Epidemics generally refer to infectious diseases that can spread widely in a large area of people in a short time. Carriers of such diseases can take many forms. For the tobacco epidemic, the mechanism is very similar: tobacco companies as a carrier, spread diseases around the world and have an impact on a large population. The prescription for this disease is the WHO Framework Convention on tobacco control.

The WHO global tobacco epidemic report analyzes national efforts to implement the most effective tobacco demand reduction measures in the WHO Framework Convention on tobacco control (WHO Framework Convention).
These measures, such as "MPOWER" interventions, have been shown to save lives and reduce costs by avoiding medical expenses. The MPOWER report, released in 2007, aims to promote government action on six tobacco control strategies, as required by the WHO Framework Convention on tobacco control, in order to:

Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies. (M)
Protect people from tobacco smoke. (P)
Help to quit smoking. (O)
Warning of tobacco hazards. (W)
Ensure that tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship are prohibited. (E)
Raise taxes on tobacco. (R)
Smoking cessation service must be strengthened
The latest report focuses on the progress made by countries in helping tobacco users quit smoking. The report, launched in Brazil today, has become the second country after Turkey to implement all MPOWER measures at the highest level.
Dr. Tan Desai, director general of who, pointed out that governments should provide smoking cessation services in the context of efforts to ensure universal health coverage for their citizens.

"Quitting smoking is one of the best things anyone can do for their health. MPOWER measures provide the government with practical tools to help people get rid of this habit and make them live longer and more energetic. "
Smoking cessation services include the national free smoking cessation hotline, the "mecessation" service offered to more people through mobile phones, counselling services through primary health care providers and nicotine replacement therapy, which is covered at a cost.

Global progress in this area is remarkable, with 2.4 billion people now living in countries providing comprehensive smoking cessation services (2 billion more than in 2007). However, only 23 countries provide smoking cessation services at the best practice level, which is the most inadequate MPOWER measure in terms of the number of countries providing full coverage. Nevertheless, another 116 countries provide services at full or partial cost in some or most health care institutions, and another 32 countries provide services at no cost, indicating a high public demand for smoking cessation support.

Tobacco use has also declined proportionally in most countries, but population growth means that the total number of people using tobacco remains high. Currently, there are an estimated 1.1 billion smokers, about 80% of whom live in low - and middle-income countries.
Main findings:
Since the last report was released in 2017:
36 countries have adopted one or more MPOWER measures and reached the highest level of implementation.
More than half of the world's population, or 3.9 billion people living in 91 countries, benefited from measures to print large graphic warnings on packages describing specific tobacco hazards. As a result, this measure has become the MPOWER measure with the highest population coverage and the most countries.
14 countries have implemented large-scale graphic alerts in line with best practice levels, making it the fastest-growing MPOWER policy in terms of country utilization in the past two years.
Tobacco tax measures are the MPOWER series of tobacco control measures with the fastest growth of population coverage. The population coverage of this policy almost doubled, from 8% in 2016 to 14% in 2018.
62 countries have protected 1.6 billion people from toxic second-hand smoke through national level legislation banning smoking in indoor public places, workplaces and public transportation, covering 22% of the global population.
Of the 5 billion people protected by at least one MPOWER policy, 3.9 billion live in low - and middle-income countries (61% of their total population).

Fifty nine countries still need to adopt one MPOWER measure (49 of them are low-income and middle-income countries) and reach the highest level of achievement.

Of the 34 low-income countries in the world, 17 have adopted at least one MPOWER policy that reaches the best practice level, compared with only three in 2007, indicating that the income level will not hinder the adoption of smoke control measures that meet the best practice standards.

Since the last report was released in 2017, new countries under each MPOWER measure have implemented at the best practice level:
The 7 countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Gambia, Guyana, New Guinea and Tajikistan) have adopted a totally smoke-free law covering all indoor public places and workplaces.
4 countries (Czech, Saudi