The Tobacco Control team works to help reduce the burden of disease, death, and economic consequences caused by tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke in the Americas Region. Tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today. As tobacco use continues to rise in many parts of the world, it becomes increasingly more important that governments work jointly with civil society to implement the mandates of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to protect their citizens from tobacco and educate them about the dangers associated with its use.

Key facts

There are 1.3 billion tobacco users worldwide.
Tobacco kills around 8 million people every year (more than 7 million active smokers and over 1 million non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke), including 1 million in the Americas.
The life expectancy of smokers is at least 10 years less than non-smokers.
Mortality from tobacco use in the Region accounts for 15% of the deaths from cardiovascular disease, 24% of those from cancer, and 45% of those from chronic respiratory diseases.

Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of its users when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer.
Tobacco companies spent over 8 billion dollars in marketing and advertising.
Total global economic cost of smoking – from associated health expenditures and productivity losses – is estimated to be about US$ 1.4 trillion annually, equivalent to 1.8% of 2012 world’s annual GDP.
Children and adolescents who use e-cigarettes at least double their chance of smoking cigarettes later in life.

Fact sheet

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first international public health treaty negotiated under WHO auspices and contains guidelines and requirements for the implementation of the most cost-effective tobacco control measures available necessary for reducing the smoking epidemic. Key provisions that parties to the WHO FCTC will be required to implement include:

Article 6: Raising taxes on tobacco products.
Article 8: Protection from secondhand smoke in all indoor workplaces and public places and in public transportation.
Article 11: Large graphic health warnings on the packaging of tobacco products.
Article 13: A comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion

These measures can be considered the starting point for comprehensive implementation of the Convention. The treaty also addresses a number of other issues, including the disclosure and regulation of ingredients in tobacco products, sale of tobacco products by or to minors, treatment for tobacco addiction, research and exchange of information among countries and promoting public awareness.

WHO FCTC webpage

PAHO Response

PAHO aims to accelerate the implementation of the FCTC in the Region, especially the articles that WHO considers “best buys” for NCD prevention and control. Strategic lines of action include:

Implementation of measures for the creation of completely smoke-free environments and the adoption of effective measures on the packaging and labeling of tobacco products as a priority for the Region.
Implementation of a ban on the advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of tobacco products and the adoption of measures to reduce their availability.
Ratification of the FCTC and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products by the Member States that have not yet done so.
Strengthening of Member States’ capacity in terms of public health policies to counter attempts at interference by the tobacco industry and those who work to further its interests.
Assist the Member States in the preparation, review, and implementation of tobacco control regulations and policies, regardless of whether they are States Parties to the FCTC.
Promote technical cooperation with and among countries to share best practices and lessons learned.
Strengthen technical cooperation to improve Member States’ capacities to promote policy coherence between trade and public health in the context of tobacco control, to protect health from tobacco industry interference.
Promote partnerships with other international organizations and subregional entities, as well as members of civil society at the national and international levels, for the implementation of this Strategy and Plan of Action.

Mandates and Strategies: Tobacco Control

Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of NCDs in the Americas, 2013-2019

Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)

Strategy and Plan of Action to Strengthen Tobacco Control in the Region 2018-2022

Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products

World No Tobacco Day 2025

World No Tobacco Day Awards 2025

The World Health Organization organizes the World No Tobacco Day Awards each year, recognizing individuals or organizations for their achievements in the area of tobacco control. Meet this year's winners:

WHO organizes each year the World No Tobacco Day Awards, to acknowledge contributions in tobacco control from public health leaders and organizations. The call for nominations for 2025 is now open until 31 January 2025, 12:00 pm (EST or Washington DC time)

Previous World No Tobacco Days

Report on Tobacco Control for the Region of the Americas

Report on Tobacco Control for the Region of the Americas 2022

The Report on Tobacco Control of the Region of the Americas 2022 presents the progress of the implementation of the MPOWER technical package during the period of 2018-2021. While there has been significant progress noted, the report also highlights the gaps in the acceleration of the tobacco control agenda both at the global and regional levels.

Access the Report

access the country profiles

Previous Regional Reports

2018: Report on Tobacco Control in the Region of the Americas

2016: Report on Tobacco Control for the Region of the Americas. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: 10 Years Later

2013: Tobacco Control Report for the Region of the Americas

2011: Tobacco Control Report for the Region of the Americas

Resources

Sarah: the digital resource that can give you advice on a healthier lifestyle and mental health

More information

MPOWER

The Parties of the WHO Framework Convention have committed themselves to protecting the health of their populations in a battle against the global tobacco epidemic. In order to assist the countries fulfill their commitments under the Framework Convention, en 2008, the WHO established MPOWER, a plan consisting of the six most important and effective tobacco control methods.

The six MPOWER strategies include:

M: Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies
P: Protect people from tobacco smoke
O: Offer help to quit smoking
W: Warn about the dangers of tobacco
E: Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
R: Raise taxes on tobacco

These measures have demonstrated their effectiveness at reducing tobacco use.

In a report published at the end of 2009, the WHO reported that while some countries have advanced rapidly in the implementation of tobacco control measures, others are moving more slowly. The report shows that in 2008 400 million people benefited from tobacco control policies. Nonetheless, there remains much room for progress, as less than 10% of the world population is covered by any of the suggested tobacco control measures.

The purpose of this training material is to provide technical support to governments of the Member States and public health organizations in developing regulation of tobacco product contents, design and emissions to reduce product attractiveness in accordance with Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and the Partial Guidelines for the implementation of Articles 9 and 10.

The material consist of a Facilitator's Guide, 7 PowerPoint presentations (with notes to guide the presentation), exercises to be used during the workshop and a final evaluation form. Additionally, two factsheets have been developed as complementary materials. There is also a module summarizing the information of the workshop that can be used to support individual training.

Download the files: Training Toolkit Regulation of Tobacco Products

For individual training, access to the module on Tobacco Product Regulation to Reduce Attractiveness

Surveillance

Surveillance is a systematic ongoing collection, collation, and analysis of data and the timely dissemination of information to those who need to know so that action can be taken.

It is important to have an effective and sustained surveillance system to monitor the tobacco epidemic and evaluate the impact of tobacco control interventions. Empirical evidence shows that the most successful national tobacco control policies are supported by an effective surveillance and evaluation system.

Article 20 of the WHO FCTC addresses surveillance as follows:
"...2. The Parties shall establish, as appropriate, programs for national, regional and global surveillance of the magnitude, patterns, determinants and consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke. Towards this end, the Parties should integrate tobacco surveillance programs into national, regional and global health surveillance programs so that data are comparable and can be analyzed at the regional and international levels, as appropriate."

Through surveillance, it is possible to monitor and evaluate regional tobacco-related issues.

Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS)

The World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) began development of the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) in 1999. The purpose of the GTSS is to enhance the capacity of countries to design, implement, and evaluate their national comprehensive tobacco action plan and to monitor the key articles of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC). The GTSS includes the collection of data through four surveys:

the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) focuses on youth aged 13-15 and collects information in schools.
the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), which was added in 2007, is a household survey that monitors use among adults.
the Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS) is a survey given to the teachers and administrators at the schools taking the GYTS.
the Global Health Professions Students Survey (GHPSS) collects data from 3rd-year students pursuing degrees in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacology.

Currently, the GTSS includes GYTS, GATS and Tobacco Questions for Surveys (TQS) a standard set of questions on tobacco use that can be incorporated into any adult survey and TQS-Youth a standard set of survey questions on tobacco use for youth surveys. The purpose of TQS is improve survey comparability over time and harmonize questions across global surveillance and monitoring efforts.

These components provide a consistent framework for surveillance including standard sampling procedures, core questionnaire items, training in field procedures, data analysis, and consistent reporting across all participating countries.

GTSS Data: Interactive web application for global tobacco surveillance

More on Surveillance and Tobacco Control

Research

Environmental Nicotine Levels in the Americas

With the aim of supporting smoke-free environment policies and programs tor reducing the exposure to secondhand smoke in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Global Tobacco Control developed a study to estimate exposure to secondhand smoke in Latin American countries and the Caribbean and designed a specific method for measuring secondhand tobacco smoke in public places. The main results were published in the scientific paper Secondhand Tobacco Smoke in Public Places in Latin America, 2002-2003.

Other results (in Spanish):

Honduras

Mexico

Panama

Available only in Spanish:

Ilustración de un cigarrillo quemándose, y la ceniza que va cayendo con forma de la silueta de personas de distintas edades y sexos

Ciclo de conferencias virtuales realizado de junio a septiembre de 2020 con el fin de presentar y discutir paquetes de medidas para reducir el consumo de tabaco y otros factores de riesgo, y disminuir la carga de ENT en los países de América Latina.

Organizado por la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS/OMS), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), La Unión Internacional contra la Tuberculosis y Enfermedades Respiratorias (La Unión), Corporate Accountability, Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) y Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón (FIC)

Las grabaciones de las sesiones están disponibles en el siguiente enlace:

Más información

Available only in Spanish:

Foto de un puño aplastando un grupo de cigarrillos sobre una mesa. A la izquierda, un recuadro con el título de la capacitación

Serie de seis sesiones de capacitación online dirigida a funcionarios de gobierno para fortalecer la capacidad del control del tabaco en la aplicación de las medidas del paquete de medidas MPOWER contenidas en el CMCT en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID19. El proyecto fue desarrollado por la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) con el apoyo del Centro de Investigación para la Epidemia de Tabaquismo (CIET), Uruguay.

Más información

Resources for Pre-COP10 y la Pre-MOP3

The preparatory meetings in the Region of the Americas for the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and for the 3rd session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products will take place in Brasilia, from October 17 to 20. The objective of these meetings is to provide the opportunity for the Parties in the region to review and discuss the issues to be addressed in the forthcoming COP10 and MOP3.

Click on the following button to find useful resources for these meetings.

USEFUL RESOURCES

Activities