As World No Tobacco Day is commemorated on May 31, 2009, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is calling for increased efforts to control the tobacco epidemic focusing on the developing world, where those least able to combat the deadly and debilitating effects of tobacco consumption are also the ones who are most at risk.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. More than 80 percent of the world’s smokers live in the developing world. More than 5 million people die every year worldwide from tobacco use, of which 1.2 million are in the South-East Asia region, where nearly half of the world’s poor live.

Many spend more on tobacco consumption than on their most basic necessities, such as education, food, shelter, and health care.

WHO reports that in several countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mexico and Egypt, the poorest households spend between 10 and 15 percent of their incomes on tobacco consumption. Tobacco use can often drag a family deeper into poverty, since the poor are more likely to become ill and die from tobacco-related illnesses than their wealthier counterparts.

In the country of Laos, or the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), ADRA has been working in partnership with the Laos Ministry of Health since 1998 to address tobacco issues at a national level, effectively breaking this cycle of poverty.

In 2000, ADRA implemented the Tobacco Free Society project, where 95 community educators were trained, five public awareness campaigns were implemented by the Lao Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Center for Information and Education for Health (CIEH) and project staff, and 15,562 youth participated in Tobacco Free Society activities in various schools and villages.

ADRA has also been partnering with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Loma Linda University, (LLU) and the Lao MOH, through its CIEH since 2001, to support tobacco control research and capacity building. Through this alliance, Laotian professionals from the MOH have received training in tobacco control research methods, and the nation’s first-ever national tobacco prevalence survey is nearing completion.

To promote greater tobacco control, ADRA launched the Planning and Legislating Tobacco Control in Laos (PALTCIL) project in 2007, which has been working to develop and advocate national legislation of tobacco policies. Through the PALTCIL, ADRA is also providing needed capacity building to the Tobacco Control Taskforce of the Lao MOH, through the facilitation of its first five-year strategic plan.

“Laos is one of the last countries in the world that does not have a tobacco control law,” said Jay L. Till, media communications and public relations officer for ADRA Lao PDR.

However, due to ADRA’s Tobacco Control Program, a Tobacco Control Law, consisting of smoke-free public spaces, advertising bans, graphic warning labels, and a tax health fund, will be going to the National Assembly in December to be passed into law.

ADRA is also working with the government on tobacco taxation laws, supporting the local government of the districts of Luang Prabang, Champasak, and Vientiane to become “smoke-free” districts, and is currently working to ensure the upcoming 2009 Southeast Asian Games remain smoke-free.

According to ADRA Lao PDR, some estimates suggest that at least 59 percent of Laotian men smoke, as well as 13 percent of women.

By 2030, it is believed that smoking will cause eight million deaths a year, with more than 80 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries.

World No Tobacco Day was created by the WHO and is commemorated every year on May 31. The event was created to raise awareness about tobacco consumption, and its negative health effects, and ultimately reduce the number of deaths due to tobacco-related diseases.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

The theme of World No Tobacco Day 2009 is "Tobacco Health Warnings", with an emphasis on the picture warnings that have been shown to be particularly effective at making people aware of the health risks of tobacco use and convincing them to quit. More and more countries are fighting back against the epidemic of tobacco by requiring that packages of tobacco show the dangers of the product's use, as called for in guidelines to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.