Smoking is injurious to health. It takes several lives every year. Bill gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have decided to save lives from the clutches of tobacco. They announced that $375 million would be invested in various anti-tobacco campaigns. This task would be accomplished through various anti-smoking groups that are working with the government. They added that number of smokers has reduced due to bans in bars and restaurants that were introduced in California and New York. Other nations like Ireland, France, Italy and Turkey have also witnessed reduced smoking rates, but the number of smokers is increasing in poor nations.

According to the data, it is presumed that by 2030, more than 80 percent of worldwide tobacco-related deaths will occur in low- and middle-income countries

The announced amount will be spent especially on developing countries such as India and China. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will invest $125 million over the next four years. Bill Gates said, "Smoking is an epidemic that can be stopped, and we want more people to get involved." He added that China and India should get special attention.

According to statistics, number of tobacco consumers is increasing in India. It is expected that tobacco-related pre-mature deaths would rise from 7 lakh annually to 9.3 lakh by 2010. The problem of tobacco smoking is intensified by the problem of increasing number of “bidi” user. According to various studies “bidi” smokers are 5-6 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers.

Bloomberg said it is difficult to fight menace of tobacco in countries like china where government owns cigarette manufacturing companies. He added that such countries should realize that amount of money that these countries earn through selling tobacco is much less than the amount spent on the public health problems due to tobacco consumption. According to data collected by WHO, China has an estimated 350 million smokers, a third of the world's total, and 1 million people die from tobacco there each year.