(New York, February 7, 2025) – Vital Strategies today applauded policymakers in Nepal, which is set to become the first country in the world to completely cover the front and back of cigarette packs with pictorial health warnings about the deadly harms of smoking. Globally, these warnings are proven to encourage intention to quit, quit attempts, and deter youth from smoking.
New directives also mandate that such warnings cover 100% of the front and back of bidi packaging and of chewing tobacco packaging. According to the new provision, the background color of the pack, warning message and the picture will be Pantone 448C (drab dark brown). Brand names will only appear on the underside of the packs and not on the front or back.
“Nepal now has the world’s strongest policy for pictorial warnings on tobacco packaging,” said Gan Quan, Senior Vice President for Tobacco Control at Vital Strategies. “This significant milestone in global public health has been achieved thanks to the leadership of the Honourable Minister of Health and Population, Mr. Pradip Poudel, and his team, and strategic, timely advocacy from local health experts. Pictorial warnings deliver population-level impact and puts the financial responsibility on companies, not taxpayers. We encourage more countries to follow Nepal’s example.”
Tobacco use kills more than 75 Nepalis every day. Dr Tara Singh Bam, Director for Vital Strategies Asia Pacific Office, commented: “Since 2011, large pictorial warnings have delivered life-saving messages to every Nepali, regardless of income, language or literacy, helping to reduce tobacco use. By progressively enlarging the warnings, adopting 100% pictorial health warnings on packaging and mandating the simultaneous use of several images to avoid consumer fatigue, the government has ensured that this policy retains its impact.”
“We urge Nepal to stand firm against industry attempts to prevent these directives from being implemented and stand ready to support Nepal’s government as it further develops its tobacco control strategy. This is a highly cost-effective intervention that not only saves lives and reduces healthcare costs but also helps to denormalize tobacco in our communities. This remarkable achievement is a testament to the strong political commitment and timely actions of the Ministry of Health and Population.”
Research finds that large pictorial warnings on cigarette packaging spurs behavior change among Nepalese smokers. A study in 2014-15 found that warnings covering at least 75% of the front and back of tobacco packaging prompted 58% of current smokers to intend to quit smoking and reduced their daily intake of cigarettes from 11 to 5, on average.A 2021 study conducted in a region of Nepal with high levels of illiteracy found that pictorial warnings, now covering90% of packs, had encouraged more than half of the respondents to attempt to quit smoking.
The new regulations will take effect on August 17, 2025.
Notes to Editors
Tobacco use and harm in Nepal
According to the 2023 World Health Organization report, approximately 29% of adults aged 15–69 are current tobacco users, with a notable gender disparity: 48% of males and 12% of females use tobacco. Among youths aged 13–15, the prevalence is 9.5% for boys and 4.8% for girls.
There is a dual burden of smoking tobacco and use of smokeless tobacco, which is used by 18% of adult men and women combined. Notably, smokeless tobacco use is more prevalent than smoking among adult males (33.3% vs. 28%), whereas among females, smoking is more common than smokeless tobacco use (7.5% vs. 4.9%).
According to The Tobacco Atlas, 12.6% of adult male deaths and nearly one in ten (9.2%) deaths among adult womenare related to tobacco. Smoking also harms Nepal’s economy, costing 32,818,579,754 Nepalese rupees every year. This includes direct costs related to healthcare expenditures and indirect costs related to lost productivity caused by illness and premature death. Spending on tobacco keeps families trapped in poverty: on average in Nepal, a smoker must spend 22.3% of GDP per capita to buy 100 packs of the most popular cigarettes in a year.
Graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging
According to a report from the Canadian Cancer Society, adoption of this policy has grown steadily since Canada became the first country to do so in 2001. Today, 138 countries and territories require pictorial warnings on cigarette packaging, with two-thirds of the world’s population now covered by this health policy. Some 127 countries and territories require warnings to cover at least 50% of the package (on average); 76 countries and territories mandate at least 65% (on average), while 11, including Nepal, mandate at least 85%.
Pictures warnings are particularly effective in deterring tobacco use where literacy rates are low, or multiple languages are used. According to census data, Nepal’s literacy rate is 76.2%, meaning that a significant proportion of the population is illiterate.
Nepal first adopted large pictorial warnings covering 75% of the pack in 2011 and became a global leader in 2015, when it became the first to implement graphic warnings on 90% on front and back of packs.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies believes every person should be protected by an equitable and effective public health system. We partner with governments, communities and organizations around the world to reimagine public health so that health is supported in all the places we live, work and play. The result is millions of people living longer, healthier lives.
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