Why Bans in Low & Middle Income Countries Don’t Work

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INNCO LMIC Report (English)
INNCO LMIC Report (Spanish)
INNCO LMIC Report (French)
INNCO LMIC Report (Swahili)

INNCO Press Release (English)
INNCO Press Release (Spanish)
INNCO Press Release (Portuguese)

Country-Specific Data

The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction

Why Bans of Low-Risk Nicotine Alternatives to Smoking in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) Will Do More Harm Than Good

In 2020, The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), a Bloomberg partner for ‘The Initiative to reduce tobacco use’, published its fourth position statement on e-cigarettes. In it, The Union called for a blanket ban on all electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

INNCO has developed a report in response to The Union, titled 10 reasons why blanket bans of e-cigarettes and HTPs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are not fit for purpose.

Smoking prevalence remains high, with around 1.3 billion people who smoke and/or use high-risk forms of tobacco. More than 80% of those people live in LMICs.

Our sincere desire is to spark conversation about the right to reduce harm as a human rights issue and to highlight the inherent injustice associated with denying people access to safer alternatives simply because of where they live.