EVERY year, close to 164,000 people die due to tobacco use in Pakistan. This means 450 deaths per day, more than 3,100 deaths per week and over 13,600 deaths per month.

In addition to the devastating loss of lives, the latest research indicates that the annual economic and health cost of tobacco in Pakistan amounts to around Rs700 billion. However, the tobacco industry’s total tax contribution to Pakistan — around Rs298bn in 2024 — does not even amount to half of the economic losses triggered by tobacco consumption in the country.

This loss of lives and the economic consequences of tobacco are preventable if people reduce consumption and quit smoking. To achieve this, increasing taxation is one of the key policy measures governments can use for tobacco control. Taxation not only saves lives but also reduces negative economic impacts and increases tax revenue.

Research has proven that taxing conventional tobacco and other novel tobacco products reduces overconsumption. Additionally, it increases tax revenues that can be allocated to finance health and development priorities. Pakistan’s already overstretched healthcare systems can also achieve greater viability by reducing the burden of tobacco-related diseases.

The negative impacts of tobacco are jeopardising Pakistan’s commendable efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda and all its SDGs. Sustainable development needs healthy wo­­rkers, healthy mothers, healthy fathers, he­­althy children, and healthy communities.

Tobacco costs Pakistan 164,000 lives and Rs700bn yearly.

In Pakistan, tobacco taxation has proved to be effective. In 2023, a tax increase on tobacco products led to reduced consumption and increased revenues. Around 26.3 per cent of smokers cut down on cigarette consumption, which declined by 19.2pc. In parallel, revenue collection from the federal excise duty (FED) on cigarettes increased by 66pc — from Rs142bn in 2022-23 to Rs237bn in 2023-24.

FED rates on cigarettes have not increased in Pakistan since February 2023 — making them more affordable — and taxation levels remain below WHO’s recommended level of 75pc of the retail price. This presents an opportunity to strengthen control measures.

Pakistan ratified the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2004. In this regard, WHO is continuously providing technical support to the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations & Coordination and the FBR in the areas of tobacco tax policy and track-and-trace implementation. The WHO FCTC is a milestone in the promotion of public health. The WHO FCTC has registered 182 Parties, covering more than 90pc of the world’s population.

Tobacco kills up to half of its users who don’t quit — but it is not only them. Second-hand smoke also harms the health of our communities and families. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. Second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and kills around 1.3m people every year.

More than a quarter of the world’s population in 74 countries is protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws. Among smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco, most want to quit. Counselling and medication can more than double a tobacco user’s chances of successfully quitting.

To this end, national comprehensive cessation services to assist tobacco users to quit, with full or partial cost coverage, are available in only 32 countries, representing around a third of the world’s population.

One-third of countries, representing a quarter of the world’s population, have completely banned all forms of tobacco adver-tising, promotion, and sponsorship.

Hard-hitting anti-to­bacco mass media campaigns and pictorial health warnings prevent children and other vulnerable groups from taking up tobacco use. They also increase the number of tobacco users who quit.

There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests. The tobacco industry produces and promotes a product that has been proven scientifically to be addictive, to cause disease and death and to give rise to a variety of social harms, including increased poverty.

The scale of the human and economic tragedy that tobacco imposes is shocking, and also preventable. The dangers of tobacco products should not be concealed. WHO is determined to provide science-based information to the public, so everyone can make informed decisions to safeguard their health and the health of their families and loved ones. WHO also stands by those smokers who want to quit and need support and will continue to partner with the government of Pakistan to provide high-quality information and health services to them and their families.

WHO stands with the Government of Pakistan to work together in reducing tobacco use and saving lives.

The writer is WHO representative in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2025