Bloomberg Philanthropies is upping its fight against tobacco by giving more money.
Bloomberg Philanthropies announced an additional commitment of US$420 million over four years to the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. This fourth investment brings Bloomberg’s total commitment to wage war against tobacco to more than US$1.58 billion since 2005. The Bloomberg Initiative has employed measures such as enforcing smoke-free public places, banning tobacco advertising, increasing tax on tobacco products, requiring graphic warnings on cigarette packaging, and mass-media campaigns. Currently, the initiative spans more than 110 low- and middle-income countries — including China and India, which together account for nearly 40% of the world’s smokers.
From the new US$420 million in funding, US$280 million will be aimed at reducing tobacco use in LMICs and US$140 million will target reducing e-cigarette use among teenagers in the US.
The Initiative utilizes a multi-pronged approach to advance its policies, funding a range of strategies to promote MPOWER policies, including extensive legal support, research to provide evidence to raise tobacco taxes, hard-hitting media campaigns, training for key stakeholders, monitoring tobacco industry behavior, and measuring tobacco use.
In 2019 Bloomberg Philanthropies began to support efforts targeting e-cigarette usage amongst teens in at least 20 states and cities in the US. Since then, the Initiative supported the passage of 55 state and local flavor bans.