The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: This paper seeks to examine the findings of key international economic organizations, such as the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), concerning the importance of tobacco control to the attainment of broader social and economic development goals. It then considers whether the tobacco control community may use these findings to seek commitments from relevant agencies for tobacco control projects in developing countries.

Methods: This paper examines several global and regional economic reports and analyses, which demonstrate the economic and social impacts that tobacco use has on individuals, families and national economies, including publications issued by the World Bank, the OECD and the World Health Organization. It then identifies several areas of convergence between the declared objectives of a number of current national overseas aid programmes, and the objectives of tobacco control. The aid programmes considered as examples include Australia's overseas development programme for the Asia-Pacific region.

Results: Overseas aid agencies frequently emphasize the linkages between poverty and health. A number of key international economic and financial institutions have also identified the association between poverty and tobacco use, and have urged governments worldwide to adopt and implement effective tobacco control policies. The tobacco control community should draw on these findings in dialogue with development agencies and with other stakeholders, such as academic institutions, as this could lead to new allocations of resources for tobacco control in developing countries, as well as a widening of the domestic support base for overseas tobacco control projects.