In Sri Lanka, more than 20,000 people are killed every year as a result of tobacco-related diseases. Despite tobacco smoking rates declining over the years, it was still 28.4% among males above 15 years in 2018, indicating that more than one in four males still smoke.

Secondary data analysis shows that smoking prevalence is higher among certain groups. IPS’ latest publication ‘Tobacco Smoking in Sri Lanka: Identifying and Understanding the Last Mile Smokers’ focuses on these groups – referred to as ‘Last Mile Smokers’ (LMS) in the report. [...]