GENEVA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday launched a program aimed at helping African countries control tobacco use -- a major risk factor for nocommunicable diseases.

    A main focus of the program will be on strengthening African countries' ability to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the international health treaty that guides national efforts to counter the tobacco epidemic, the UN agency said in a statement.

    The work will be financed in part by a grant of 10 million U.S. dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant is the largest that WHO has received for tobacco control in Africa and is an important means to address the noncommunicable diseases gap in the international development agenda, it said.

    Tobacco use is a major risk factor for such noncommunicable diseases as heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes and asthma and other chronic diseases which together account for 60 percent of all deaths worldwide.

    In the 46 countries of the WHO's Africa region, noncommunicable diseases are expected to account for 46 percent of deaths by 2030,up from 25 percent in 2004, according to the agency.

    "Tobacco use in Africa is more than a health problem. It's a development problem, too," said Dr. Ala Alwan, WHO assistant director-general for noncommunicable diseases and mental health.

    "Tobacco breeds poverty, killing people in their most productive years. It consumes family and health-care budgets. Also, money spent on tobacco products is money not spent on such essentials as education, food and medicine," he said.

    He expressed hope that the WHO's new and innovative tobacco control work in Africa would help to "bring solutions within reach."