Smoking in Cuba
Current smoking prevalence trends in the general population in Cuba show a slow decline according to WHO trend data. The decline in current smoking in the general population has been from 46% in 2000 to 37% in 2015, with a projected further decrease to 34% by 2025. This decline in prevalence has been driven in large part by women, whose smoking prevalence decreased from 34% in 2000 to 19% in 2015, with a further decrease to 13% projected by 2025. The prevalence for men has decreased marginally from 59% in 2000 to 56% in 2015, and is projected to drop to 55% by 2025. The WHO published prevalence trend estimates in tobacco smoking, as shown here, in their 2018 2nd edition report, which show slightly different smoking prevalence to the WHO country profiles. Data for the estimates are not age standardised, and were obtained from WHO databases. The trend lines are projections, not predictions, of future attainment. A projection indicates a likely endpoint if the country maintains its tobacco control efforts at the same level that it has implemented them to date. Therefore the impact of recent interventions could alter the expected endpoint shown in the projection. While the methods of estimation used in the first and second editions of the WHO report are the same, the volume of data available for the second edition is larger i.e. 200 more national surveys. The results presented are therefore more robust.
Read articles from Cuba
February 07, 2024 by cbc.ca
Cuba grapples with the uncertain future of a national symbol, the cigar
It's estimated that from seed to box, more than 200 pairs of hands touch each cigar that is made in Cuba. A valuable export, and a draw for many visitors to the island nation, the artisanal tobacco product is both a historic national industry, and a point of national pride."It is in my blood to grow tobacco," said Hector Luis Preto, who has a farm in the Pinar del Rio village of San Juan y Martinez. "Tobacco is part of my family, it is part of myself," Preto told Mendes, standing in a freshly tilled field ready for shade grown tobacco, the delicate leaf used to wrap the outside of a cigar.
March 13, 2023 by filtermag.org
Tobacco Fairs, Free NRT and Few Vapes: A Conversation in Cuba
Winning a prize for my laughable “dancing” skills at a bar in Havana was a major surprise. But it should have surprised me less that the gift bag I was awarded contained a box of cigarettes.
Tobacco is firmly entrenched in Cuban culture. The country is famous, of course, for its cigars, and its tobacco crop is one of its largest sources of income from foreign trade. Cuba’s smoking rate, as of 2015, was 37 percent. Although it’s gradually falling, it’s about three times higher than in the United States. Almost 20,000 Cubans die of smoking-related causes each year.