MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st July, 2023) Russia ranks among the countries protecting their population from tobacco smoke at the best-practice level based on multiple criteria, according to the newly published WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic.
The report puts Russia among the top counties in monitoring the prevalence of tobacco use and enacting prevention policies. Russia is also one of 74 countries across the globe with a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places, the report said.
Russia is also at the forefront of warning about the dangers of tobacco by issuing strong graphic health warnings on packs of cigarettes and airing anti-tobacco mass media campaigns that highlight the harms of smoking and raise public awareness, thereby deterring young people from cigarettes, the WHO said.
Russia has also enforced strong bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, putting the country among the best in this sphere. The country also excels at monitoring e-cigarette use among adolescents and adults, the report said.
As of 2021, around 28% of adults in Russia smoked every day, with taxation making up 61% of the price of a pack of cigarettes. As many as 23% of adults smoked daily in Belarus, with taxation at 56.6% of the price of a cigarette pack.
The report put Serbia as the European country with the highest number of daily adult smokers (33% of population), followed by Bulgaria (32%), Croatia (31%) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (30%). Turkmenistan (4%), Iceland (7%) and Uzbekistan (8%) are the countries in the WHO European Region with the lowest number of daily adult smokers.
