19 Latin American countries sat health and finance officials at one table — to make tobacco taxes work harder

From October 20 to 22 in Mexico City, the Pan American Health Organization brought together health and finance authorities from 19 countries to strengthen tobacco taxation — one of the most cost-effective tools for preventing disease, and one of the most underused in the Americas. The workshop, run with Economics for Health at Johns Hopkins, the World Bank and Chile's Tabaconomía programme, shared evidence and practical design help. Momentum exists to build on: over the past two years Brazil, Dominica, Jamaica, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago have all raised tobacco taxes, and the Dominican Republic has widened which products are taxed.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: policy reform