In a joint press conference, Gates said adult smoking rates in the industrialized nations have dropped, and that it needs to be prevented from entering into yet untapped tobacco markets like Africa.
Gates and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday they will donate $500 million for a worldwide, anti-smoking campaign.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has agreed to donate $125 million over five years. Bloomberg’s foundation will donate $250 million over the next four years. Added to that is a $125 million pledge made by Bloomberg two years ago.
The effort will focus on developing nations, including China and India, where lax regulations allow tobacco companies to market their disease inducing wares. The money will support that work of anti-smoking nonprofit groups that work directly with governments, other charities and smokers.
“If we do nothing, tobacco will kill 1 billion people by the end of this century,” Bloomberg said.
Raising taxes on cigarettes, enacting laws against smoking in public and banning advertising to children are strategies that will be used by “Mpower” the campaign they are supporting.
Bloomberg, who called Gates the “pre-eminent philanthropist of our generation,” said smoking kills more than 5 million people every year, or 14,000 people a day.
“I hope you get a strong sense of optimism that smoking is an epidemic that can be stopped,” said Gates.
Gates said annual deaths attributed to smoking’s effects are currently still evenly split between rich and poor countries, but it is expected that developing nations will see dramatic rise in number of smokers because tobacco companies face less concerted resistance. This is exactly what Gates and Bloomberg hope to change!
More power to them!
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