Bloomberg Philanthropies Commits Additional $420 Million to Reduce Tobacco Use Globally

Tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death, remains one of the biggest threats to global public health. One billion smokers around the world are currently at risk of tobacco-related illness and death. And the tobacco industry, which has already claimed countless lives, continues to use predatory tactics to attract and addict generations of new users to its products. The cost of inaction is simply too high.

That’s why over the past two decades, the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use has worked with countries to adopt proven strategies to reduce tobacco use and protect the public from harm. As part of this work, the Initiative works with national and local governments across more than 110 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to support tobacco control measures such as designating smoke-free public places, banning tobacco advertising, increasing tax on tobacco products, requiring graphic warnings on cigarette packaging, and supporting mass-media public awareness campaigns.?

The impact of the Initiative has been profound. Our goal is to save 100 million lives by 2050 – and public health models suggest we’ve made great strides so far, saving over 35 million people. Since the Initiative’s launch, over 100 countries have adopted strong tobacco control policies, protecting about 65% of the global population. Fifty-seven countries have adopted smoke-free laws; and most recently, Mexico made international headlines for enacting a complete ban on smoking in public places.

Overall, since the launch of the initiative in 2007, we have seen significant reductions in global smoking rates and global cigarette sales. The Federal Trade Commission released a report on Tuesday that U.S. cigarette sales have fallen over 70% since 1981.?Despite these leaps and bounds, we know there is still much work to be done.

To help continue these efforts, Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed an additional $420 million over four years to the Initiative. This new funding brings Bloomberg’s total investment in global tobacco control to $1.58 billion since 2005.

This latest commitment will help us advance two key priority areas. First, $280 million of this newest commitment will enable us to continue supporting the adoption of MPOWER policies in LMICs. These policies are focused on monitoring, and protecting people against secondhand smoke, offering help to quit smoking, warning about the dangers of tobacco through pack labels and public awareness, enforcing advertising bans, and raising taxes on tobacco.

The remaining $140 million will target reducing flavored e-cigarette use among teenagers in the United States. At Bloomberg Philanthropies, we have been battling the U.S. youth e-cigarette crisis since 2019. Since then, we have successfully supported the passage of more than 80 state and local flavor bans, the most recent being California’s Proposition 31 vote in November 2022, a significant moment where California voters chose to uphold the state flavor ban at a rate of almost two to one. Despite these wins, more must be done to push back against the tobacco industry and ensure the health and safety of future generations.

Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and WHO’s Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Injuries, summed it up in an op-ed published in The Hill on Thursday, “We know the industry won’t stop pushing its products, so we have to keep pushing back – harder than ever – with laws and policies that protect children from addiction and the dangers it brings.”

I look forward to continuing our tobacco control work alongside our global network of partners to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people.