Globally, CVD-related deaths are the most common cause of deaths due to smoking – more than pulmonary and other diseases! Conversely, tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke exposure remain major causes of cardiovascular disease, contributing to approximately 10% of all CVD deaths around the world – over 1.5 million per year. Urgent action is needed to prevent the predicted 8 million tobacco-related deaths per year that will be reached by 2030.
WHF has long been and remains a fierce global advocate in the fight against tobacco. Our partnership with organisations such as NCDA and FCA, active support of tobacco control initiatives from our members, and publishing and promoting tools like the tobacco roadmap keeps us at the forefront of this ongoing public health challenge. WHF now engages even more directly with all its members and partners through our Tobacco Expert Group (TEG), established in 2018. The TEG serves to guide WHF policy and activities around tobacco control at the global level. Its work is informed by three main objectives:
- Raising awareness on the link between tobacco use and CVD
- Leveraging healthcare professional communities to make an advocacy impact
- Strengthening the voice of WHF by using all relevant platforms
WHF Policy Brief on E-cigarettes
E-cigarettes: A New Threat to Cardiovascular Health
The WHF Policy Brief on E-cigarettes lays out the negative impacts of e-cigarettes on people’s cardiovascular health and highlights the need for stricter regulation and greater oversight of these harmful products. It provides evidence-based, practical guidance that can be adapted to local contexts.
Download the Policy Brief
Tobacco and CVD
- Smoking causes one-tenth of CVD worldwide.
- Globally, tobacco causes some 6 million deaths a year.
- The risk for coronary heart disease is 25 per cent higher in female smokers than in male smokers.
- The risk of a non-fatal heart attack increases by 5.6 per cent for every cigarette smoked and persists even at only one to two cigarettes per day.
- Chewing tobacco more than doubles the risk of heart attack.
- Awareness of links between smoking and cardiovascular disease remains low in many parts of the world: in China, where the risk of stroke is very high, more than 70 per cent of all smokers do not know that smoking increases their risk of having a stroke.
- Smoking bans have been found to decrease the rates of heart attacks; the evidence indicates that smokefree laws are one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent heart attacks.
WHF Advocacy
The following are some of the key activities for WHF advocacy on tobacco control:
- Support the development of WHF position papers and disseminate to key policy makers
- Deliver draft WHF statements during WHO and other UN meetings/events during FCTC Conference of the Parties (COP)
- Develop a policy to ensure that none of our Members accept money from, endorse, enter into partnerships with, nor conduct research in any way related to the tobacco industry and all its allies, including the Philip Morris International-funded “Foundation for a Smoke Free World” to be adopted at the WHF General Assembly
- Promote Prevent20 campaign messages and evidence on tobacco taxation as a smart solution for CVD prevention
- Facilitate contact between WHF Members and ministries of finance to support the Prevent20
Latest News
Strategy and plan of action to strengthen tobacco control in the region of the americas 2025-2030
This statement was delivered by Ms. Fernanda de Carvalho, our Advocacy Committee member for PAHO, at the Seventy-Sixth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Americas SEVENTY-SIXTH SESSION OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE AMERICAS AGENDA ITEM 4.7 Honourable Chair, Distinguished Delegates, The World Heart Federation applauds the World Health Organization and […]
Tobacco
Protecting Hearts, Safeguarding Futures
The World Heart Federation is excited to celebrate World No Tobacco Day with the global cardiovascular health and tobacco control communities. Tobacco remains a significant, yet preventable, risk factor for cardiovascular disease, accounting for approximately 17% of all cardiovascular disease deaths. WHF believes that everyone everywhere – from childhood through adolescence and adulthood – has […]
Tobacco
Advocating for a tobacco-free world at COP10
The World Heart Federation (WHF) proudly represented the global cardiovascular community at the Tenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), held from 05 to 10 February 2024 in Panama City, Panama. Representatives from 142 Parties gathered to tackle a range of issues, from progress on […]
Tobacco
Addressing novel and emerging tobacco products at COP10
This is a statement delivered by the World Heart Federation at the 10th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC in Panama. Honourable Chair, Distinguished Delegates, The World Heart Federation welcomes the latest reports on newer tobacco and nicotine products. For decades, the tobacco industry has perpetuated the myth that nicotine […]
Tobacco
