Big tobacco in Latin America

Abstract

Although Latin America has seen a large decrease in the number of smokers over the past few decades, owed in part to governmental efforts to control tobacco, smoking remains a leading risk factor for disease, disability, and death in the region, killing around 345 000 people every year. Nearly all countries in Latin America are signatories to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which obligates several measures to reduce tobacco use, but the implementation of the treaty and its articles varies internationally.