Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg Team Up For New Anti-Smoking Effort

According to this latest article in the NY Times, the World Health Organization estimates that tobacco will kill about a billion people in the 21^st century, which is 10 times as many people that it killed in the 20^th century. Most of the deaths are expected to come from poor countries like Bangladesh and middle-income countries like Russia. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has partnered with the Bloomberg Foundation to spend a total of $500 million to stop people around the world from smoking.

Mr. Bloomberg mentions:

“All the money in the world will never eradicate tobacco, but this partnership underscores how much the tide is turning against this deadly epidemic.”

The campaign, named Mpower, will urge governments to prohibit smoking in public places, raise tobacco taxes, start anti-smoking ad campaigns, outlaw tobacco advertising to children, and offer nicotine patches in order to help people quit. Other countries like India and China who have begun anti-smoking ad campaigns in the past have are experiencing an increasing number of people who have quit smoking. The $500 million will be allocated over a time span of 5 years.