A growing number of countries in the Americas are adopting effective measures to reduce consumption of tobacco and exposure to secondhand smoke. But a new report from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) recommends further measures, particularly increases in tobacco taxes and bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship.

Cancer cases are projected to increase by more than two-thirds worldwide over the next 20 years—from 12.7 million in 2008 to 21.4 million by 2030. However, an estimated 30–40 percent of these cases could be prevented, say experts at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the Union for International Cancer Control.

Health should be present in the final documents that emerge from the Conference on Sustainable Development Rio +20, because it is central to the development agenda in the world, and particularly in the region of the Americas, agreed experts from the World Health organization (WHO), Pan American Health organization (PAHO) and FioCruz Brazil in the first of a series of seminars to be held at PAHO on this subject. (In Spanish)