They nurtured younger generations, and they can provide wisdom and stability in a fast-moving world. Yet public health officials usually prioritize infant and adolescent health. The underlying assumption here is that unhealthy habits can’t be reversed later in life, and the impact those habits have on an individual’s health can’t be eliminated or even significantly […]

2019 began auspiciously, with a sense that the end of smoking might finally be on the horizon. This ambience of optimism, however, was short-lived. Instead of progress, 2019 brought a series of setbacks, schisms, and squandered opportunities to improve global health. Still, I remain hopeful that 2020 can be different. Over the past year, the […]

Smoking is a major behavioral risk factor common to all four major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)—namely, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases. Approximately 80% of the world’s 1.1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); and NCDs are estimated to cause more than two-thirds of all deaths in developing countries. This […]

Around the world, sales volumes of combustible cigarettes are dropping. Meanwhile, growth rates are substantial across a range of tobacco harm reduction products. These trends suggest that some consumers are swapping out conventional cigarettes for newer products—a phenomenon that Jacob Grier refers to as the “creative destruction” of the cigarette industry. Of course, it’s too […]

Surveying the room in Solapur, I’m struck first by the elegance of the women’s saris, and second, by the iPad. Equipped with advanced facial recognition software, the machine’s sophistication stands in stark contrast to the rest of the scene, which otherwise comprises piles of tendu leaves, processed tobacco, thread, and perilously sharp sheers. Over the […]