They've tackled malaria and AIDS, but now two billionaire philanthropists are taking on another developing world health-scourge: smoking. Former Microsoft Chair Bill Gates and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg just pledged $500 million to the fight against tobacco use, most of which will go to developing countries. Check out their discussion with Charlie Rose here:
Gates and Bloomberg have a tough battle ahead of them. In India, a country of 120 million smokers, the death toll from tobacco use could cause more than 1 million deaths a year by 2010. Most of these deaths are likely to result from cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, and especially cancer, which is contracted at much higher rates for smokers of bidi (popular hand-rolled cigarettes sold in Southeast Asia) than for smokers of regular cigarettes. Even China, which has stepped up its anti-tobacco campaign in the lead-up to the Beijing Games, is likely to lose 100 million of its male citizens currently under age 30 to tobacco-related death by 2030.
The billionaires' efforts, which include bringing health officials from developing countries to the United States for workshops on lobbying and public service advertising, face other hurdles. Governments collect major revenues from taxes on cigarettes, and the bulk of money for Mpower -- the WHO program the philanthropists are funding -- is spent on lobbying these governments to take actions like prohibiting smoking in public places and raising tobacco taxes. That could mean lots of lined pockets and wasted dollars. Tough anti-tobacco measures in the United States and Europe seem to have worked -- rates of smoking are on a decline -- but only time will tell whether they'll be equally successful in developing countries. Gates and Bloomberg face fierce competition: Phillip Morris, for instance, has been marketing its popular Marlboro line in India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Mexico in recent years.
I'm rooting for the rich guys.
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