Study: Second-hand smoking on the rise in Africa

 2.71 billion people worldwide were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2023.[Courtesy]

You do not have to light a cigarette to inhale its smoke. Sitting beside a smoker, sharing a room with someone who smokes or growing up in a household where tobacco is used can expose you to the same toxic smoke, even when you have never touched a cigarette yourself.

A new study published in The Lancet Public Health shows just how widespread that invisible exposure remains. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 analysed second-hand smoke exposure and its health effects across 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023, using data on different age groups and sexes.