Michael Bloomberg announces new $20M fund for tobacco control

Bloomberg Philanthropies is injecting new funding to further help countries implement tobacco control measures. Billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg announced a new $20 million Accelerator Fund on Monday at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, Ireland. He hopes it will help more countries implement proven tobacco control measures, which include advertising bans on tobacco, raising taxes on cigarettes, and passing legislation banning smoking in public places. His charity has invested some $1.6 billion in fighting tobacco globally since 2005. He estimates these tobacco control measures have helped save over 35 million lives within the past two decades. At the conference, he also recognized several organizations and governments that have made progress in implementing them. However, tobacco continues to harm and kill 7 million people yearly. The latest World Health Organization report found that only four countries have implemented the full set of proven tobacco control measures, while 40 countries have not implemented a single one of them, the majority of which are low- and middle-income countries. More than 100 countries have also failed to significantly raise their tobacco taxes, which WHO says “is the single most effective and cost-effective measure for reducing tobacco use.” But fighting tobacco “has only gotten harder,” according to the former mayor of New York City, who currently serves as WHO ambassador for noncommunicable diseases. This is particularly the case for organizations that receive funding from the U.S. government, whose budget cuts are also impacting tobacco control efforts domestically. He assured those at the conference that his charity would continue supporting global health efforts. “Global public health is a driving passion, a major priority, and we are not going to back off. Not one inch,” he said.