It is estimated that tobacco use could kill a billion people globally during this century. One of the major initiatives of Bloomberg Philanthropies since 2007 has been an effort to create greater awareness overseas of tobacco risks, reducing consumption. The foundation promotes several strategies: tracking tobacco use, creating smoke-free public places, launching community programs to help people quit smoking, posting warnings on tobacco’s health effects, banning advertising, and raising taxes on tobacco. The foundation invested more than $600 million in these efforts as of 2015.
- Bloomberg international tobacco initiative, bloomberg.org/program/public-health/tobacco-control/#overview