Tobacco kills 8.7 million people every year, including up to half its users in addition to non-users exposed to deadly second-hand smoke. The burden of tobacco reaches far beyond health, weakening the economy, disrupting social systems and damaging the environment. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear a greater portion of the global burden, with over 80% of tobacco users living in LMICs. 

Without adequate investment in tobacco control it is estimated that up to 1 billion people could die from tobacco-related diseases during this century alone.

Urgent and whole-of government action is needed to tackle the tobacco burden, calling for a response from all government sectors. This brief is part of a set of 13 provided by UNDP that map out roles and first steps different parts of government can take to help achieve the SDGs by reducing tobacco use.

The executive branch can take key steps to advance tobacco control and accelerate progress towards the SDGs. This includes ensuring the participation of key decision makers and all government sectors in tobacco control multisectoral action plans and coordinating mechanisms, supporting strong tobacco control and sustainable development policies, implementing measures to protect against tobacco industry interference, and promoting policy coherence. The executive branch also stands to benefit from tobacco control – evidence shows that scaling up support for cost-effective tobacco prevention and control will yield substantial socio-economic benefits for all government sectors.