Support for tobacco control

The British government’s Department of Health is committing £15 million to bolster international support for a tobacco control project in Sri Lanka, which is believed to have the world’s highest rate of oral cancer among men, according to an EconomyNext story.

The new project will promote accelerated implementation of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in low- and middle-income countries, with Sri Lanka one of 15 priority countries.

The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris said 60 countries had applied for support from the WHO.

‘Priority countries weren’t selected on the basis only of need, but also on level of commitment,’ he said in a statement.

Tobacco use was one of the principal causes of oral cancer and in Sri Lanka oral cancer was the most common form of male cancer, Dauris said.

“I understand that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world where this is so,’ he added.  “This alone is a good argument for investing in change.”

Evidence from around the world confirmed that measures that reduced the burden of tobacco-related death and disease, freed-up money and resources that could be spent and invested in more productive ways.