tobacco use

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates said yesterday that they will together provide $500 million to fight tobacco use around the world, especially in developing countries where smoking rates are rising.

Findings from a National Institutes of Health study indicate that rates of tobacco use during pregnancy, as well as exposure of pregnant women and their young children to secondhand smoke, are significant threats to health in several low and middle-income countries.

In a few of the countries sampled, including some in Latin America, rates of tobacco-related exposures may already be high enough to warrant substantial concern.