Morocco needs to ratify WHO tobacco control convention, official

It is necessary for Morocco to ratify the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, said, in Rabat Thursday, head of the department of non-transmissible diseases at the Health Ministry, Noureddine Chaouki.

Unanimously adopted by the WHO 192 member states on May 21, 2003, this treaty requires countries to impose restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsoring and promotion. It is the first legal instrument designed to reduce tobacco-related deaths and disease around the world.

Speaking at an information day, Morocco's Health Minister, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, stressed the need to raise Moroccans awareness about the tenor of this convention that Morocco signed in April 2004, and which many countries implemented in February 27, 2005.

Biadillah said this day was an opportunity to launch the ratification process of the convention to reduce tobacco-smoking hazards.

Besides its damaging effects to environment, this plight is a major cause of death in Morocco, with a high rate of tobacco-associated cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

According to the WHO, tobacco consumption is currently the single leading preventable cause of death, which results in the premature death of nearly five million people a year. If current smoking patterns continue, the number of deaths will double to 10 million a year by 2020.

In 2004, 14.5 billion cigarettes were sold in Morocco.