Thank you, Chairperson, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control serves two international treaties.
One is the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco control, which currently has one hundred-and eighty-two Parties – thirty-five of them small island developing states, or SIDS.
The other is the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, with sixty-three Parties – six of them SIDS.
As recognized in 2014 in the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action Pathway – or S.A.M.O.A. Pathway –health is a precondition for all three dimensions of sustainable development.
And tobacco has a direct and substantial negative impact on all three of those dimensions – social, environmental and economic – in all countries.
The prevalence of tobacco use remains high, with some of Pacific islands having among the highest prevalence of tobacco use in the world.
Tobacco use is a common risk factor for the main noncommunicable diseases, which continue to be a major problem in SIDS.
Implementation of the WHO FCTC has been well recognized as a means of achieving SDG 3.4 which calls for a one-third reduction in premature NCD-related mortality by 2030. SDG Target 3.a specifically promotes implementation of the WHO FCTC.
The Addis Ababa Action Agenda has noted the enormous burden that the NCDs pose on health systems, especially in countries with limited resources, like the SIDS, and it recognized that price and tax measures on tobacco can be an effective and important means to reduce tobacco consumption and health-care costs, while also providing a revenue stream for financing for development in many countries.
Of course, not only health is affected by tobacco use.
In 2012 direct care costs and lost productivity due to tobacco-related illnesses, cost almost one-point-eight percent of the global GDP, with forty percent of this cost having occurred in developing countries.
The environment, of course, is affected; with cigarette butts – a mix of plastics and toxic chemicals – one of the most common pollutants of seas and oceans.
They are also a toxic eyesore on beaches around the world.
Additionally, tobacco use increases the risk of more severe outcomes from COVID-19.
These two pandemics – tobacco use and COVID-19 – are having a synergistic effect on the economy and on inequity, and they are hitting hardest the most vulnerable among countries and within countries.
Tobacco control must be one of the components of building-back-better strategies.
It will help improve population health – which is fundamental in this and in any future pandemic – and through tax measures will increase much-needed domestic funds.
Finally, commercial determinants of health and trade are important drivers of NCDs in SIDS, and tobacco is probably the best example.
Tobacco industry tactics have been copied by many other industries that provide commodities detrimental to health.
Therefore, the WHO FCTC and its Guidelines for implementation can provide the best examples of how to deal with those predatory industries that influence prices, availability and promotion of their products.
The Convention Secretariat is committed to support all Parties, including SIDS, in the implementation of both treaties, the WHO FCTC and the Protocol.
Thank you.