Over 5 million people die of tobacco yearly -WHO regional director

Dr Sambou's call is contained in a message delivered as part of activities commemorating World No Tobacco Day, on the 31 May, 2009. Describing tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death in the world, he revealed that more than 5 million people die from its effect every year. This, he added, is more than all deaths resulting from HIV/AIDS, Malaria and tuberculosis combined. "It is the only legal consumer product that kills when used exactly as directed by the manufacturer," he stated. 

The WHO regional boss went on to say that smoked tobacco in any form causes up to 90% of all lung cancers, and that it is a significant risk factor for strokes and other fatal heart attacks. He added that second-hand smoking harms whoever is exposed to it with serious and often fatal consequences such as sudden infant death syndrome. 

Dr Sambou's World No Tobacco Day message also touched on the addictive nature of smokeless tobacco, which he said causes diseases such as cancer of the mouth, neck, oesophagus and pancreas as well a number of other oral diseases. Some other forms of smokeless tobacco, he added, also increase the risk of heart disease and low-birth-weight in babies. "Through advertising and promotional campaigns, including the use of carefully crafted package designs, the tobacco industry continues to divert attention from the deadly effects of its product," Dr Sambou stated, and he added, "Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco requires signatories to carry on all packages 'health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use'. 
Article 11, according to Dr Sambou, also recommends that the warnings contain pictures."Nine out of ten people live in countries that do not require warnings with pictures on tobacco packages," he said. 

Dr Luis Sambou lamented on the significance of health warnings that combine pictures and words in terms of effectiveness in convincing smokers to stay away from the deadly product, making reference to the encouraging opinions by people in countries this strategy had been found to have worked. He appealed to governments and policy makers for legislations enforcing large picture warning displays on tobacco packages. "your decisions, he said, should be based on impartial scientific evidence, not on the claims of the tobacco industry," he state, describing the argument raised by the industry against health warnings as "false", maintaining that it should not be relied upon.

He said: "We are also calling on civil society and non-governmental organisations to advocate for picture-based warnings on all tobacco products and to campaign for and help to develop and implement laws that require picture-based warnings on tobacco products." The right of the public to know the reality surrounding tobacco consumption also featured in the Who regional director's message. "You should show the example by letting everyone know that you support picture warnings," he said.