Devex: Q&A: The World Bank’s quiet evolution on tobacco taxes
“On Wednesday, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a group of finance ministers, and a handful of policy experts [were scheduled to] meet behind closed doors to discuss a tax measure that has the potential to save millions of lives. Tobacco taxes — when they are implemented with the express purpose of reducing the number of people who smoke — offer national governments an extremely effective policy tool for tackling negative health outcomes, William Savedoff, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development who [was to attend] Wednesday’s meeting, told Devex…” (Igoe, 10/11).