Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) to Control Tobacco Economics and the
Concerns of Governments about Taxes on Poor Smokers
Khansa Muthiah
Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Mulyorejo, Surabaya, Indonesia
Keywords: Tobacco economics, Taxes, Poor smoker.
Abstract: Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death which kills more than 5 million people every year. It
is predicted to kill more than 8 million by 2030, and approximately 80% of the deaths will occur in low- and
middle-income countries. Not only in health sector, economies will also suffer from increased health-care
costs and decreased productivity. For example, while tobacco taxes are known to be the most cost-effective
tobacco control measure, some countries encounter several challenges when a tax increase is at stake. As the
tax increases, the share of tobacco expenses on the household income also increases, thus increasing the
burden on the family budget, especially on poorer smokers. Evidence suggests that the poor are more
sensitive to price increases, and consequently, it is expected that as tax increases, the majority will tend to
reduce or quit smoking. In order to address the economic arguments used against tobacco control, it is
necessary to strengthen the evidence, technical and analytical skills of government officials, academia and
civil society. This will help to move forward the tobacco control agenda and to improve both the economy
and public health.
1 INTRODUCTION
There are many substantial debates on the
economics of tobacco control while the health
arguments against it are largely beyond dispute. To
reduce tobacco demand it would reduce tax revenues
and causes sudden unemployment and increase
smuggling. It makes some public health community
doubted the efficacy of price interventions. One of
the concerns that raised by the governments is the
regressive nature of taxes on poor smokers. As the
tax increases, the expenses for tobacco consumption
on household income also increases, thus increasing
the burden on the family budget, especially on
poorer smokers.
The smokers from poor family are more sensitive
to price increasing. Hopefully as a result if the tax
increased the majority will likely reduce or quit
smoking. Their respect on their families and society
at large likely give them benefit because there will
be lower health cost and more resource for other
essential goods such as education. Therefore,
government should allocate and revenues by higher
tobacco taxes towards social program so the poor
could get benefit such as accessibly in health
services, health insurance and cessation
programmes.
The Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) to control
tobacco economics and the concerns of governments
about taxes on poor smokers are about helpin
countries to enhance their ability to resist the
epidemic of tobacco and to implement
responsibilities that encompass surveillance of the
global tobacco epidemic, advisin countries on
taxation as an instrument of tobacco control policy
and other economic policies to control tobacco.
2 METHODS
In this research, a systematic literature review of the
research studies of Tobacco Free Initiative activity
around the world has been used.
192
Muthiah, K.
Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) to Control Tobacco Economics and the Concerns of Governments about Taxes on Poor Smokers.
In Proceedings of the 4th Annual Meeting of the Indonesian Health Economics Association (INAHEA 2017), pages 192-194
ISBN: 978-989-758-335-3
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

3 RESULT
Table 1: Tobacco Free Initiative in 2003-2004
Activity
Sub-activity(program)
WHO FCTC awareness-
raising workshops and
technical support to Member
States
WHO Regional
meetings
National consultations
on the Treaty
Tobacco Control legislation
-
Research and Policy
Development
Economics and tobacco
control
Meetings and
consultations on the
economics of tobacco
control
Cessation of tobacco use
Second-hand tobacco
smoke (SHS)
Youth and gender-
related issues
Surveillance and Monitoring
Tobacco-related
surveillance
Tobacco Industry
Monitoring (TIM)
Training and Capacity
Building
World No Tobacco Day
(WNTD)
TFI’s Global Network
Donors
-
Source : Tobacco Free Initiative Report of Activity 2003-
2004(WHO)
Table 2: Tobacco Free Initiative in 2008
Activity
Sub-activity (program)
Capacity-Building,
Training And Research
Capacity assessment
Building the national
capacity for
implementing effective
tobacco control policies
Legislation and
regulation for tobacco
control
Economics of tobacco
control
Tobacco Free Initiative
support of Bloomberg
Initiative grants
Youth activities
Cessation
Raising awareness and
capacity-building
workshops on illicit trade
in tobacco products
Gender and tobacco
Global Tobacco
Surveillance Systems
Global Adult Tobacco
Survey
Global Youth Tobacco
Survey
Global Health
Activity
Sub-activity (program)
Professionals Student
Survey
Monitoring The Tobacco
Industry
-
Communication And
Partnerships
United Nations Task
Force
World No Tobacco Day
Product Regulation
-
Source : WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control, 2008
4 DISCUSSION
The Tobacco Free Initiative has designed a method
to help countries identify their resources needs and
challenges for implementing effective and
sustainable tobacco control policies such as FCTC
awareness raising workshops and technical support
to member states, tobacco control legislation,
research and policy development, the cessation of
tobacco use, surveillance and monitoring tobacco-
related surveillance, and donors (2003-2004). In
2008, there are capacity-building, training and
research products and regulation communication and
partnerships monitoring the tobacco industry and
global tobacco surveillance systems. WHO FTCT as
a tool for global tobacco control efforts and TFI
(Tobacco Free Initiative) is likely a paradigm of the
core functions.
Figure 1: Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) : Paradigm of core
function
1. Science: All tobacco products cause disease and
death worldwide by up to 5M death/year,
Tobacco leads to poverty at the individual and
societal level
2. Knowledge: Building the knowledge base for
tobacco control
3. Intellegence: Tobacco industry monitoring such
as the periodic monitoring of tobacco industry
activities across all WHO regions and ongoing
development of a database with industry
monitoring reports
Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) to Control Tobacco Economics and the Concerns of Governments about Taxes on Poor Smokers
193

4. Humans and Institutional resources: Countries
where regional/sub-regional/national levels
have participated in WHO initiatives
5. Policy development: Recommendations for the
economics of tobacco control, smoking
cessation and the treatment of tobacco
dependance, gender responsive tobacco control
and smoke free places
6. Communication and Media: World No Tobacco
Day, and Worldwide Campaigns on 31 May
7. Global Network: International agencies, Civil
society, NGOs, collaborating centres, member
states and regional economic integration
organisations
TFI (Tobacco Free Initiative) work is only
possible thanks to collaboration with other
institutions and financial support from several
donors.
5 CONCLUSION
Tobacco control programs could reach specific
populations that fall outside the usual regulatory
mechanisms and operate on the margins of
community, yet still continuing fail to reduce the
differential vulnerability impacts of tobacco use. It
is necessary to take an actions regarding tobacco
control need to be taken to minimize the barriers to
tobacco prevention and cessation services especially
for smoker from lower and middle class family.
Furthermore, an effort to prevent and control
tobacco consumption among those groups are not
likely to succeed beyond an integrated approach that
seeks to reduce the fundamental social inequities
that affects the groups to tobacco use, and gives
them a relative disadvantage in accessing cessation
discontinuance services.
REFERENCES
Prabhat Jha, Fred Paccaud, and Son Nguyen. Strategic
priorities in tobacco control for governments and
international agencies, p. 449
WHO. Tobacco control economics. Available from URL :
http://www.who.int/tobacco/economics/background/en
/index3.html. accessed September 2017
WHO.Tobacco Free Initiative Report Sctivity 2003-2004.
WHO. 2008. Report of WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative on
its activities undertaken specifically on the
implementation of the WHO Framework Convention
on Tobacco Control (decision FCTC/COP2(10)).
Mochizuki, Yumiko. 2005. Activities of the WHO Tobacco
Free Initiative : vision and next step
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