My dream is for a smoke free Summer Davos

By BjarteReve, Chief Communications Officer at Akershus University Hospital, Norway*

My dream is for a smoke free “Summer Davos” in Dalian.  A meeting where participants pledge to create tobacco free workplaces and offer their employees tobacco cessation programs.

Tobacco is the only consumer product, proven to kill more than half its regular users. Tobacco use continues to be the leading global cause of preventable death. It kills nearly 6 million people and causes hundreds of billions of dollars of economic damage worldwide each year. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and this disparity is expected to widen further over the next several decades. If current trends continue, by 2030 tobacco will kill more than 8 million people worldwide each year, with 80% of these premature deaths among people living in low- and middle-income countries.

“Summer Davos”, is the foremost global business gathering in Asia. Big Tobacco is not admitted. Professor Klaus Schwab – founder and Executive Chairman of World Economic Forum has a long history of working for a tobacco free workplace. Tobacco firms cannot be members of World Economic Forum or participate in Forum activities.

What can countries, companies and individuals do to reduce tobacco use? In 2008 WHO introduced the MPOWER package, of six evidence based tobacco control measures that are proven to reduce tobacco use and save lives.

– Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies

– Protect Protect people from tobacco smoke

– Offer help to quit tobacco use

– Warn about the dangers of tobacco

– Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship

– Raise taxes on tobacco

WHO reported in july about the progress in implementing the MPOWER package to reduce tobacco usage. Roughly 3.8 billion people (55% of the world’s population) are covered by at least one measure, including 1.1 billion people covered by a new policy since 2008.

We are moving in the right direction. Young Global Leaders from around the world are using their networks to influence governments to follow the WHO recommendations for tobacco control measures. We have also set up a program called NewMe Smokefree for middle schools worldwide. This program is a peer-to-peer program where kids learn about the effects of tobacco from cancer doctors and nurses at hospitals, and then they influence their peers in a positive direction towards not using tobacco. It’s not cool to smoke. It kills you.

BjarteReve (@BjarteReve) is a Young Global Leader and Chief Communications Officer at Akershus University Hospital, Norway and is attending the upcoming World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions held in Dalian, China 14-16 September 2011.