The “Tobacco or Health” Seminar was held on December 13, 2007. The seminar was organized by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan in collaboration with the World Bank and WHO. The seminar involved the representatives of relevant ministries, government agencies and international organizations. The seminar aimed at building consensus among stakeholders on the National Tobacco Control Program in Uzbekistan for 2008-2012 before its final endorsement.

The research findings on the impact of tobacco consumption on population health and the country’s economy of Uzbekistan were presented to the seminar participants. The research was carried out with technical and financial support of the World Bank. The research results will serve as a basis to agree on final draft of the National Tobacco Control Program, focusing on taxation of tobacco products, regulating production of “nasvay” and levying an excise tax on it.

The seminar participants briefly reviewed the Draft “National Tobacco Control Program of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2008-2012”, considered the issues of ttobacco epidemic in Uzbekistan, Economics of Tobacco Control and Tobacco consumption consequences on the economy of Uzbekistan. Tobacco taxation issues were discussed with great interest. To sum up discussions and recommendations the participants adopted a resolution of the seminar.

In the Resolution the Seminar participants recognized the need to apply price and non-price instruments on reduction of the demand for tobacco products. They expressed their concern with the endorsement of the Program by the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan and emphasized the importance for Uzbekistan to join the WHO Framework on Tobacco Control.

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The consumption of tobacco products in the world is constantly increasing. During the period of 1993-2003 the tobacco consumption in the world increased by 6%, mostly due to increase of its consumption in developing countries. Thus the smoking increased by 13% in developing countries, whereas the reverse tendency was observed in developed countries.

In 2000, tobacco use killed 4 million people globally. It is estimated that as the current smoking patter continues, tobacco will kill 10 million people annually by the year 2030- more than any other cause of death.

The results of studies conducted by the Ministry of Health with the World Bank support in 2006 demonstrated that the smoking prevalence in population in general comprised 10.5%, and consumption of ‘nasvay’, the national tobacco product for sublingual using comprised 11.0%.  The smoking prevalence among male and female comprised 20.0% and 1.1% respectively.

According to estimations those who died of T-A diseases, smoking was responsible for 10,480 deaths or 27,4% of total Uzbek male deaths at 35+ age in 2004. It was estimated that smoking was responsible for total 125,540 years of potential lives lost in Uzbekistan, which means that one person who died from smoking lost about 12,0 years of his/her potential life.

Available documents:
Resolution (35KB, PDF) - English version
Resolution (35KB, PDF) - Russian version
Addiction to tobacco smoking (552KB, MS PowerPoint) - English version
Addiction to tobacco smoking (539KB, MS PowerPoint) - Russian version
Changes in budget revenues (476KB, MS PowerPoint) - English version
Changes in budget revenues (209KB, MS PowerPoint) - Russian version
National program 2008-2012 (157KB, MS PowerPoint) - English version
National program 2008-2012 (161KB, MS PowerPoint) - Russian version
WB Presentation (687KB, MS PowerPoint) - English version
WB Presentation (1.2MB, MS PowerPoint) - Russian version
WHO Presentation (804KB, MS PowerPoint) - English version
WHO Presentation (810KB, MS PowerPoint) - Russian version