Dramatic rise in tobacco control policies in last decade: WHO

New Delhi: The last decade witnessed a "dramatic" increase in life-saving tobacco control policies, a new report by WHO today said, asserting that India undertook initiatives to monitor its use and implemented measures to protect people.

The latest WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic found that 4.7 billion people--63 per cent of world's population--are covered by policies such as strong graphic warnings, smoke-free public places or other measures.

In terms of monitoring, the report said that Nepal, India and the Philippines are among countries that conducted WHO- backed initiatives to monitor tobacco use and then implemented measures to protect people from it.

It said Nepal introduced the world's largest health warnings on tobacco packaging surfaces (covering 90 per cent of the package) in May 2015 after using a set of household tobacco survey questions that allowed authorities to detect a high prevalence of adult male smokers and users of smokeless products.

"India launched a nationwide tobacco cessation programme and toll-free quit line in 2016 after conducting a global adult tobacco survey in 2009-10 that revealed high interest among almost one in two smokers and users of smokeless products to quit eventually," the report said.