New York, NY – Bill Gates and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that they would spend $500 million to stop people around the world from smoking.
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Tobacco could kill as many as one billion people in the 21st century, most of them in poor and middle-income countries, according to World Health Organization estimates.
In an effort to cut that number, Bloomberg’s foundation plans to commit $250 million over four years on top of $125 million that he announced two years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is allocating $125 million over five years.
Those sums far outstrip current spending of about $20 million a year on anti-smoking campaigns in poor and middle-income countries, according to a recent WHO. report.
The $500 million would be spent on a multipronged campaign nicknamed Mpower that Bloomberg and Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the WHO, outlined in February. Under it, governments will be urged to raise tobacco taxes sharply, outlaw smoking in public places, outlaw advertising to children and free giveaways of cigarettes, start anti-smoking advertising campaigns and offer their citizens nicotine patches or other help in quitting.
You gotta give it to Bloomberg. He’s putting his money where his mouth is.
i don’t smoke. does that give me funding??? when will i receive it?? how much will i get???
Couldn’t this money be better spent?
I’ll quit smoking if they give me a $100,000.00.
See? I’m not greedy.
Why don’t these idiots give money to real causes not these stupid dumb causes that will not help the normal individual. He may as well donate his billions to do research why monkeys dont talk.
comments – arrow Why don’t these idiots give money to real causes not these stupid dumb causes that will not help the normal individual. He may as well donate his billions to do research why monkeys dont talk.
I would say cutting down on smoking will help the average person. Smoking causes more health issues than almost anything else in the modern world, cutting those by 20% would reduce the health care costs (and therefore the taxes that pay for them)
what about pot smokers? i think it is growing in relgious circles. this is a serious observation