Hike tobacco taxes in Southeast Asia: WHO

The World Health Organisation - Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO-WPRO) and the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) Thursday called for increasing taxes on tobacco products to discourage smoking in southeast Asia.

"We know that restructuring tobacco prices and taxes would significantly reduce tobacco consumption and prevent unnecessary suffering and death from cancer, heart disease, stroke and chronic respiratory diseases," Shin Young-soo, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said.

SEATCA said keeping tobacco taxes low creates an environment that encourages the region's youth to take up smoking, making it difficult to prevent smoking in Southeast Asia.

"Precisely because the excise tax on tobacco products in many countries is still low, WHO has made taxation the theme in this year's World No Tobacco Day," Bungon Rithiphakdee, director of SEATCA, said.

According to WHO, tobacco consumption kills more than five million people annually and eight million more would die by 2030.

Two people die each minute from tobacco-related diseases in the Western Pacific Region, which is home to one-third of the world's smokers.