Mauritius Wins 2025 Bloomberg Award for Leading Tobacco Control Efforts

The Ministry of Health and Wellness in Mauritius has received an international award for its efforts to combat tobacco use. The country was named one of six global winners of the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Award for Global Tobacco Control. The announcement was made on June 23, 2025, during the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, Ireland.

This award recognizes organizations making notable progress in reducing tobacco use through proven, evidence-based strategies.

Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, claiming over seven million lives each year.

Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, praised the global tobacco control movement for saving tens of millions of lives.

“The winners of this year’s awards show how much progress is possible,” he said.

Mauritius’s Senior Chief Executive of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Mr. Sarwansingh Purmessur, accepted the award and highlighted the country’s leadership.

“This achievement underscores our commitment to protecting public health through strong tobacco control policies,” he stated.

“Let’s work together to make the world free of tobacco-related death and disease.”

The award recognized Mauritius’s pioneering move in 2023 to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products, making it the first African country to do so.

This bold step set a regional example and inspired neighboring nations to follow suit.

Despite progress, tobacco use remains a major health threat globally, causing more than seven million deaths annually, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

While smoking rates have decreased from 22.8% in 2007 to 16.4% in 2023, about one billion people still use tobacco products.

The Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards, established in 2009, support efforts aligned with WHO’s MPOWER strategies and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

These strategies include monitoring tobacco use, protecting people from tobacco smoke, helping smokers quit, raising public awareness, banning advertising, and increasing taxes on tobacco products.

Source: MSN