World No Tobacco Day 2021: Joining forces for tobacco control

Abstract

As an oncologist with over 30 years of experience, it is distressing that most cancers are linked to tobacco use and therefore preventable1. These figures have remained largely unchanged over the years. Of the lung cancer cases 80-85% are attributed to tobacco smoking2. Tobacco use accounts annually for 11% of all new cases and 18% of all cancer deaths globally3. While there have been significant efforts worldwide to decrease tobacco use, a lot more needs to be done. The theme for this year's World No Tobacco Day, ‘Commit to Quit’, draws attention to the need to help and support those addicted to quit the habit, a largely neglected yet very important measure to decrease use. Tobacco causes 8 million deaths per year, 3 million of which are from cancer. Secondhand smoke kills over 1 million people per year, including 65000 children. There are 1.3 billion smokers globally, with 80% living in LMICs. In addition, many in the South-East Asian region use smokeless tobacco, the main cause for the high incidence of head and neck cancers in the region4. Tobacco not only affects the health of people, but also costs countries money in terms of healthcare costs and lost productivity. It has been shown that the impact of health expenditure on national economies due to tobacco related illnesses is much higher than the income revenue from the sales of tobacco products. In addition, smoking among cancer survivors remains a problem with one longitudinal study showing almost 10% of cancer survivors smoking for 9 years after their diagnosis5, illustrating the importance of developing comprehensive cessation/support programs for cancer patients who smoke.