Few health risks have received as much attention in the pages of JAMA as tobacco. Since 1984, we have devoted 10 theme issues (most recently in 1996)1 to this health scourge and hundreds of additional pages in separate articles, news stories, and editorials. The science of nicotine addiction, the pharmacology of nicotine cessation, and the epidemiology of nicotine use have been addressed in our pages. The tobacco industry has been examined through keyholes2 and doorways.3 Through these and other articles, our goal has been to educate physicians, political leaders, and the world about tobacco use and its abuse.
But education is not enough. Teenagers and young adults continue to join the ranks of smokers, and even the best attempts at helping smokers to quit often fail. The tobacco industry may be losing in some courts4 and states may ponder how to spend their share of the tobacco settlement,5 yet worldwide 1.1 billion people smoke cigarettes every day.6
An increasing number of those smokers, an estimated 330 million,7 live in China. In this issue of THE JOURNAL, Yang and colleagues7 report results of the Third National Prevalence Survey on Smoking. Comparing their results with the prior survey conducted in 1984, they report an increasing number of daily smokers, an increase in the number of cigarettes smoked, and an earlier age at initiation of smoking by both men and women. Evidence continues to accumulate that the tobacco epidemic in China is worsening.
Reducing the number of new smokers and helping those who do smoke to quit remain major public health challenges of enormous proportions, in China and throughout the world. While the consequences of smoking may be ignored in the short-term, the long-term consequences are well known.8 The world health community cannot sit by idly. If today's smoking rates hold steady, it is estimated that by 2025, tobacco use will account for 9% of the world's death and disability, a tripling of its current share.9
On August 6-11, 2000, the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will host the 11th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, "Promoting a Future Without Tobacco," in Chicago. More information about the conference may be requested via e-mail, at: 11thWCTOH@ama-assn.org. Bringing together leaders in health, government, business, and education, the conference aims to build international, national, and local partnerships to reduce tobacco use throughout the world.
Coincident with this conference, JAMA will publish our next theme issue on tobacco. We invite submission of manuscripts on tobacco-related disease, epidemiology, policy and on the prevention and treatment of tobacco addiction. Original research reports will receive highest priority, and articles with an international perspective are encouraged. Manuscripts submitted before mid-January 2000 will have the best chance of consideration for the tobacco issue. All manuscripts will undergo our usual rigorous editorial evaluation and peer review, and acceptance will be limited to the very best. Authors should consult the "Instructions for Authors" to guide their manuscript preparation and submission.10 - 11
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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