ABOUT GTSS

About the Epidemic

Tobacco use is a major preventable cause of premature death and disease worldwide, with approximately 1.4 billion people age 15 years or older using tobacco. Furthermore, more than 8 million people die each year due to tobacco-related illnesses. If current trends continue, tobacco use may kill a billion people by the end of this century and it is estimated that more than three quarters of these deaths will be in low-and middle-income countries. An efficient and systematic surveillance mechanism is essential to monitor and manage the epidemic.

About Surveillance

The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to reduce the global burden of disease and death caused by tobacco, thereby protecting present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental, and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke. This is accomplished through providing global policy leadership--promoting the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the MPOWER package of tobacco policies as a key entry point to the FCTC. The FCTC encourages countries to adhere to its principles, and WHO supports countries in their efforts to implement provisions of the FCTC and MPOWER.

About GTSS

The Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) was developed to measure the progress of countries in fulfilling the requirements of the FCTC and MPOWER. GTSS consists of the following four active components: the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), Tobacco Questions for Surveys (TQS), and Tobacco Questions for Surveys of Youth (TQS-Youth).