around 600,000 nonsmokers die young due to being exposed to secondhand smoke

While you might think that there are smoking bans in place everywhere these days, The World Health Organisation has just put out a report showing that only 5% of people in the world are protected from secondhand smoke in public areas. The WHO report said that they estimated that around 600,000 nonsmokers die young as a result of being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Ala Alwan, the WHO Assistant Director General for non-communicable diseases explained that the vast majority of the world's population were not protected and that "much more work" needed to be done. Other things revealed by this report were that out of the 100 most populated cities worldwide only 22 of them were smoke free in public places and that in hundreds of countries it was still legal to smoke in hospitals and health care centres.

At Ukmedix News we have seen how that in many countries which give the impression of enforcing smoking bans in public places this is not the case, as in bars and night clubs the rules are not obeyed and the police refuse to take action. Countries like Colombia, Guatemala and Turkey and closer to home in the EU in countries like Malta night clubs and bars and even some restaurants are full of smoke despite government promises to keep them smoke-free.

The WHO Framework on Convention on Tobacco Control has made it clear that smoking bans in public places are essential to not only protecting nonsmokers but making it easier for those who want to quit to stay smoke-free. It is estimated that tobacco kills around 5 million people every year mainly from heart disease and cancer and that it places a huge burden on health care provisions all around the world.

If you live in a place which has a public smoking ban you should make it a point to see that it is in force and speak to the relevant authority if you see people smoking. Passive smoking kills people and being passive about it will also kill.