Tobacco Free Initiative

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Tobacco Free Initiative is committed to raising awareness of the threat posed by the global tobacco epidemic and of the steps that can be taken to reduce tobacco use and save lives.

It produces a variety of communications and advocacy materials to promote its activities and to inform journalists, the general public and its partners in the public health community about the harms of tobacco.

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003 and entered into force on 27 February 2005. It has since become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in United Nations history.

The WHO FCTC was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic and is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. The Convention represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation.

To view the summary of WHO FCTC, click here.

WHO report on Global Tobacco epidemic

The global tobacco epidemic report tracks the status of the tobacco epidemic and the impact of interventions implemented to stop it.

The 2019 "WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic" finds that many governments are making progress in the fight against tobacco, with 5 billion people today living in countries that have introduced smoking bans, graphic warnings on packaging and other effective tobacco control measures - four times more people than a decade ago. Over half of the world’s population – 3.9 billion people living in 91 countries – benefit from large graphic pack warnings featuring all recommended characteristics, making it the MPOWER measure with both the highest population coverage and the most countries covered.

However, the tobacco industry continues to hamper government efforts to fully implement life- and cost-saving interventions.

To view the report, click here.

Implementing Tobacco control

Governments reduce the harms caused by tobacco by adopting and implementing the tobacco control provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Among the WHO FCTC's tobacco control provisions are those that reduce the demand for tobacco as well as others that reduce tobacco production, distribution, availability and supply.

Measures relating to the reduction of demand for tobacco

• Price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco
  Article 6 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke
  Article 8 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Regulation of the contents and disclosures of tobacco products
  Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Packaging and labelling of tobacco products
  Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Education, communication, training and public awareness
  Article 12 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
  Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Demand reduction measures concerning tobacco dependence and cessation
  Article 14 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Measures relating to the reduction of the supply of tobacco

• Illicit trade in tobacco products
  Article 15 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Sales to and by minors
  Article 16 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Provision of support for economically viable alternative activities
  Article 17 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

WHO FCTC Health Warnings Database

Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) requires Parties to the Convention to implement large, rotating health warnings on all tobacco product packaging and labelling. Pictorial health warnings on tobacco packages are a cost-effective means to increase public awareness about the dangers of tobacco use. Guidelines for Article 11 of the WHO FCTC recommend that Parties should mandate full colour pictures or pictograms, in their packaging and labelling requirements. A database of pictorial health warnings and messages shared by countries are provided in the database. To access the database, click here 

Publications related to Quitting Tobacco

• A guide for tobacco users to quit
• A guide for tuberculosis patients to quit smoking
• Toolkit for delivering the 5A’s and 5R’s brief tobacco interventions in primary care
• Toolkit for delivering the 5A’s and 5R’s brief tobacco interventions to TB patients in primary care

Tobacco control - India profile

To view the India Profile of WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2019 click here.

Source : World Health Organisation