40% countries now have completely smoke-free indoor public places: WHO report

A new World Health Organisation (WHO) report has highlighted that 5.6 billion people, 71 per cent of the world's population, are now protected with at least one best practice policy to help save lives from deadly tobacco, five times more than in 2007.

This WHO Report on the global tobacco epidemic is focused on protecting the public from second-hand smoke, highlighting that almost 40 per cent of countries now have completely smoke-free indoor public places.

There is still much work to be done, the report said, adding that 44 countries remain unprotected by any of WHO's MPOWER measures and 53 countries still do not have complete smoking bans in healthcare facilities. Meanwhile, only about half of the countries have smoke-free private workplaces and restaurants.

“Around 1.3 million people die from second-hand smoke every year. All of these deaths are entirely preventable. People exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke are at risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancers,” the report stated.