Tobacco, Poverty and  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

At the global as well as at the national levels, tobacco use is widespread among poorer people; more than 80% of smokers live in the developing world. Incidentally, the South-East Asia Region accounts for nearly half of the world’s poor and tobacco use is highest among them.

At the national level, the cost of treatment of tobacco-related diseases is very high and seriously affects the finances of most countries.  The Study on Health Costs of Tobacco Use in Bangladesh clearly shows that the Government of Bangladesh spends more than double for tobacco-related morbidity and mortality than the amount it receives as revenue from tobacco.

At the individual level, for poor families, spending on tobacco consumption can represent a very high opportunity cost because it reduces their capacity to seek better nutrition, medical care and education. A number of studies in the Region, including in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal have revealed that poor smokers spend up to 40% of their income at the cost of their basic needs which, in turn, put them in a vicious cycle of poverty.

The UN Millennium Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly at the Millennium Summit in September, 2000.  The MDGs derived from the Millennium Summit summons Member States to work together to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger, to improve health, and to promote human development and sustainable economic progress in the world’s poorest nations.  The MDGs are:

1.       Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2.       Achieve universal primary education

3.       Promote gender equality and empower women

4.       Reduce child mortality

5.       Improve maternal health

6.       Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

7.       Ensure environmental sustainability

8.       Develop a global partnership for development

While the first MDG - eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, is directly related to poverty eradication; other MDGs - achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and ensuring environmental sustainability -are correlates of income poverty.  Therefore, tobacco control has a distinct and useful role in achieving the MDGs.

The first ever meeting on Tobacco, Poverty and MDGs was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from the 21st to the 23rd of August, 2007.  This meeting was attended by 20 participants including: Delegates from the Ministries of Health and Education in Bangladesh, delegates from the Ministries of Health, Education, Progress of Border Areas and National Races from Myanmar and delegates from the National Planning Commission, the Ministries of Women, Children and Social Welfare and Education and Health from Nepal. Representatives from some of the Dhaka based UN agencies also participated in the meeting. This Sub-Regional meeting is being followed up by national workshops on the subject. This work is being carried out as an extension of the mandate of the UN Ad Hoc Inter-Agency Task Force on Tobacco Control at the country level involving different UN agencies who are members of the task force as well as different sectors of the government.

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