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WHO lauds India's tobacco control tool of warning labels on cigarette packs: What we did right
Health warnings are an effective way to help people quit tobacco use and WHO has identified India among the countries having the best practices in graphic health warning labels in 2024.
The WHO's Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report reveals that the most striking gains have been in graphic health warnings, one of the key measures under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), that make the harms of tobacco impossible to ignore.
Currently, 110 countries with a total of five billion people are protected by strong graphic health warnings. This is an increase of 101 countries and 4.7 billion people since 2007. The average size of warnings has increased from 28% in 2007 to almost 60% in 2024.
Dr Vinayak Mohan Prasad, head of the Global Tobacco Control Programme, WHO HQ, Geneva told The Indian Express that India had achieved the highest status in O and W categories, O meaning offering help to quit tobacco use and W meaning warning labels. It is in the second highest category for other measures including M, which means monitoring and mass media. 'Health warnings on cigarette packs are among the largest in the world at 85 per cent. Only 10 countries have a larger graphic health warning,' he said.
While WHO officials said that adult daily smoking prevalence in India in 2023 was seven per cent, they have not made estimates for smokeless tobacco use. According to Dr Prasad, the prevalence of current tobacco use among adults in the country is trending down and is on track to meet the 2025 NCD GAP target (Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases or NCDs, which includes tobacco control as a way of reducing premature mortality by one-third by 2030).
'However prevalence is still higher than the global average. The largest population (National Family Health Survey 2021) shows 38 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women are current users of tobacco while the global average in 2021 was 35 per cent among men and 8 per cent among women,' Dr Prasad said.
He explained that smoking rates were lower than smokeless tobacco use among adults (Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2017 showed 11 per cent smoking and 21 per cent using smokeless tobacco). Among children aged 13-15 (Global Youth Tobacco Survey-2019) 8 per cent are using tobacco (7 per cent smoking and 4 per cent us smokeless tobacco) with little difference between boys and girls.
Other than warning labels, India has banned smoking at all indoor public places, but still allows designated smoking rooms at restaurants/drinking facilities/nightclubs with a seating capacity of 30 or more as well as at airports and hotels. The government has banned direct and indirect tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships across all forms of media, including television, radio, print and digital platforms. 'However there is no ban on internet sales and India should completely ban advertising of tobacco products at points of sale,' said Dr Prasad.
The WHO report said that India is reinforcing its commitment to public health and positioning itself as a pioneer in adapting regulation to evolving media consumption trends. However, it highlighted how the tobacco tax is the least-adopted measure though it's the most effective and efficient way to reduce tobacco use. In India cigarettes are still affordable as per the report. In 2024 only 15% of the world's population living in 40 countries were protected by tax at 75% or more of the price of the most popular brand of cigarette.
(The author is in Dublin on the invitation of Vital Strategies)
Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition.
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