Kenya is among the countries where a high number of smokers are quitting the habit.
At least 20 million people stopped smoking in the last five years, the fourth WHO global tobacco trends report shows.
The report released by the World Health Organization shows that in 2015, there were 1.32 billion smokers around the world but dropped to 1.30 billion last year.
WHO says by 2025, at least 50 million more smokers will stop the habit, with the prevalence dropping to 1.27 billion.
The success comes through the existing methods to help smokers quit the habit.
These methods do not include the harm reduction strategies promoted by cigarette companies such as BAT.
Instead of helping smokers quit, harm reduction works by hooking more innocent people to highly-addictive chemicals such as nicotine manufactured by cigarette smokers.
The report shows 60 countries are now on track to achieving the voluntary global target of a 30 per cent reduction by 2025, an increase from two years ago, when only 32 countries were on course.
WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus said the numbers are very encouraging, but more work must be done.
“We have a long way to go and tobacco companies will continue to use every trick to defend the profits they make from peddling their deadly wares,” Tedros said.
According to WHO, recent evidence shows the tobacco industry used the Covid-19 pandemic to build influence with governments in 80 states.
The report urges member states to accelerate the implementation of the measures outlined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Ruediger Krech, WHO Department of Health Promotion director, attributed some of the progress to measures aligned with health agency's FCTC while maintaining that success is fragile.
“It is clear that tobacco control is effective, and we have a moral obligation to our people to move aggressively to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals link,” he said.
A newly released WHO Global Investment Case for Tobacco Cessation makes the case for investing in cessation interventions.
According to the report, contributing Sh189.8 ($1.68) per capita each year to national toll-free quitlines, SMS-based support, and other interventions could help 152 million tobacco users successfully quit by 2030.
The report and the investment case were released right after the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
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Kenya: https://www.surveygizmo.eu/s3/90400000/SMU-Smoking-Survey-Kenya
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
