“Curbing tobacco use is essential and the world can take a major step in the right direction by including the objectives to reduce tobacco consumption in the post 2015 development agenda. The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) contains evidence-based and cost-effective solutions, which, if implemented, can help achieve sustainable development”, argues the Berlin Working Group on Environment and Development, a member of the Framework Convention Alliance working for the implementation of the WHO FCTC.

According to WHO, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the leading cause of mortality in the world. The WHO states that “This invisible epidemic is an under-appreciated cause of poverty and hinders the economic development of many countries.” Common, modifiable risk factors underlie the major NCDs, which include tobacco, the harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity, being overweight/obese, raised blood pressure, raised blood sugar and raised cholesterol.

While NCDs have been mentioned in key post-2015 development agenda reports, it is unclear whether specific targets for tobacco control will be part of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs)—the Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda states that “On average, people lose 10 years of their lives to illness, mostly to non-communicable diseases. These should be addressed, but the priorities will vary by country.” And the United Nations Secretary-General’s report A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, also calls for improving health by “reduc[ing] the burden of [NCDs].”

But pressure groups—such as Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)—advocate that more specific objectives and indicators to curb tobacco use must be included in the post-2015 development agenda. In a paper advocating for including tobacco control as part of the new SDGs, ASH propose “reduc[ing] tobacco use prevalence by 30% by 2025” and “implent[ing] key measures of the FCTC including increase[ing] tobacco taxes, smoke-free laws and ban[ning] all tobacco marketing.”

The zero draft of the SDGs includes a tobacco-specific proposal under “Proposed goal 3. Attain healthy life for all at all ages,” which reads as follows: “17.10 strengthen implementation of the FCTC in all countries who have ratified [it] and urge countries that have not ratified it to ratify and implement it.” For NCDs, it proposes the following: “3.4 by 2030 reduce by x% premature deaths from NCDs, reduce deaths from injuries, including halving road traffic deaths, promote mental health and wellbeing, and strengthen prevention and treatment of narcotic drug and substance abuse.”

Whether or how specific tobacco control targets make it to the final SDGs, experts agree that worldwide it is the poorer households that are more affected by the consequences of tobacco consumption, in high-income countries as well as in middle- and low-income countries. In Indonesia, for example, a smoker’s household would spend on average 11.5% of net income on tobacco, just as much as for fish, meat, eggs and milk combined, while only 3.2% is spent on education and 2.3% on health, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.