▪ Prevalence of tobacco use among people living with HIV is more than double that of the general population.

▪ Access to antiretroviral therapy has contributed to increase in life expectancy rates for people living with HIV; high rates of tobacco use are undermining those gains in life expectancy.

▪ The excess mortality rate among smokers living with HIV is on average three times higher than that of the general population.

▪ Premature death among smokers living with HIV is due to higher rates of both communicable and noncommunicable diseases – including tuberculosis, pneumonia, cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive lung disease – as compared to their non-smoking counterparts.

▪ HIV programmes have an important role to play in preventing and assessing tobacco use status, and initiating tobacco cessation interventions.

▪ Evidence-based policies can support the integration and scaling up of tobacco cessation services through training and system changes that leverage the existing HIV care infrastructure