LONDON, Nov. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A landmark new Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR) report uses the latest evidence and new data projections to assess the current global tobacco harm reduction (THR) situation as well as its potential to rapidly reduce tobacco-related disease and mortality.

"The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2024: A Situation Report" says safer nicotine products, such as nicotine vapes, snus, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches, have the potential to stub out the cigarette for good. Photo credit: Pawel Czerwinski

The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2024: A Situation Report (GSTHR 2024), from UK-based public health agency Knowledge•Action•Change, shows there is strong evidence for an association between the rise in the use of safer nicotine products (SNP) and a corresponding decrease in smoking prevalence in a number of countries across the world.

Tobacco harm reduction encourages people who smoke and who either cannot, or do not want to stop using nicotine, to switch to significantly safer products, including vapes (e-cigarettes), tobacco-free nicotine pouches, Swedish-style snus and heated tobacco products. Legal access to a range of SNP offers enormous potential to improve the health of the billion people who smoke worldwide.  Research undertaken for GSTHR 2024 shows that more than two-thirds of the world's adult population – in nearly 130 countries – can now legally access at least one form of SNP, but adds there is massive scope to capitalise on the opportunities offered by THR.

The report includes a new estimate on the global number of vapers, which has increased to an estimated 114 million compared to 58 million in 2018.  Another 30 million people are using other safer nicotine products, meaning the GSTHR estimates there are now around 144 million users of SNP worldwide. However, access to combustible tobacco products, known to kill up to half of all users, remains legal for 100% of the world's adult population.

The new report takes an in-depth look at the situation regarding smoking and THR in Latin America and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. GSTHR 2024 also focuses on four countries that have enabled THR to drive down smoking rates - the UK, Japan, Norway and Aotearoa New Zealand – highlighting the different paths each has taken to achieve dramatic reductions in smoking prevalence.

Harry Shapiro, Executive Editor and Lead Author of The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2024: A Situation Report said: "If fully realised, tobacco harm reduction has the potential to rapidly reduce the global number of smokers. This would deliver one of the greatest public health gains of the 21st century."