The paper -- called "The Bill China Cannot Afford" -- estimated that the total annual economic cost of tobacco use in the country in 2014 was 350 billion yuan, up tenfold from 2000.
"If nothing is done to reduce [the death rate] and introduce more progressive policies, the consequences could be devastating not just for the health of people across the country, but also for China´s economy as a whole," WHO China representative Bernhard Schwartlander said in a statement.
The calculation includes both the direct costs of treating tobacco-related illness and the indirect costs such as lost work productivity.
"The rapid increase in costs associated with tobacco use in China is unsustainable," Schwartlander added.
Twenty-eight percent of all adults and 50 percent of men in China are estimated to smoke regularly.
Rural-to-urban migrants are more likely to be smokers, the report said, adding that they risk descending into poverty when smoking-related medical costs become too great -- a reality at odds with the government goal of eradicating poverty nationwide by 2020.
The organisations recommended a smoke-free policy across the country akin to laws in Beijing and Shanghai, where smoking is banned in most public places.
No comments:
Write comments