Bloomberg and Gates fight smoking

By Laura Trevelyan, BBC News, New York

Two of the world's richest men have launched a campaign aiming to tackle smoking in the developing world.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates warn one billion people could die this century from smoking-related illnesses.

The billionaire philanthropists have pledged $500m (�250m) in the next five years to help people quit smoking.

The two men want to run public-information campaigns warning of the dangers of tobacco.

There are more than 1 billion smokers worldwide.

As the developed world curbs tobacco use - with such moves as the ban on smoking in public places in London, New York and Dublin - so the tobacco companies are shifting their focus to Asia and Africa.

"Bill and I want to highlight the enormity of this problem and catalyse a global movement of governments and civil society to stop the tobacco epidemic," said Mr Bloomberg.

Mr Gates and Mr Bloomberg are aiming to help governments with policies which have been shown to curb smoking, such as raising tobacco taxes and banning tobacco advertising.

The question is how effective $500m can be against the concerted efforts of the tobacco companies to expand their markets.

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