Through the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control 2030 project, UNDP partners with the Convention Secretariat and WHO to support fifteen low- and middle-income countries to strengthen tobacco control in line with the SDGs. These investment case reports analyze countries' current social and economic burdens from tobacco use, costs and benefits of acting to reduce those burdens, and the return-on-investment.

The 2013 Demographic and Health Survey found approximately 18 percent of adults aged 15 to 49 in Sierra Leone use at least one form of tobacco. Every year tobacco kills 3,300 Sierra Leoneans. More than 900 of these lives lost are due to exposure to second-hand smoke, 68 percent of deaths are among individuals under age 70, and over a quarter of deaths are among the poorest income quintile. In 2017, tobacco cost the Sierra Leone economy SLL 403.9 billion, equivalent to 1.5 percent of its GDP.

The investment case findings demonstrate that enacting and enforcing six WHO FCTC interventions would save nearly 20,000 lives, avert SLL 1.9 trillion in economic losses over the next 15 years, and provide economic benefits (SLL 1.9 trillion) that significantly outweigh the costs (SLL 71.9 billion). Each of the WHO FCTC provisions is highly cost-effective, with banning tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship projected to have the highest ROI (115:1)