Hello, and welcome to this edition of Reports from Developing Countries on China Radio International. I'm Da Min in Beijing.

In this edition:

A UN official warns of the unfolding economic crisis' impact on millions of vulnerable children in Asia, and Brazil vows to fight a battle against cigarettes. Stay tuned.

Anchor: Welcome back. The current global financial turmoil has swept the world, and now poses a threat to vulnerable children in the developing world. UN Radio's Donn Bobb reports.

(UN report)
Back Anchor: That was Donn Bobb with UN Radio.

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Brazil has around thirty million smokers. The numbers are decreasing, but the government is keen to get the message out that lighting up is not a lifestyle choice. Our reporter Wang Lin has more.

Reporter: According to Brazil's Health Ministry, the number of adult cigarette smokers has decreased by nearly 20 percent in the last twenty years.

Wagner Gentile, an athlete and marathon runner from Rio de Janeiro, says cigarettes simply "don't match" his routine.

"I do a lot of sports, so cigarettes would be very damaging to my lifestyle."

However, in this country of 190 million people, at least thirty million people are still lighting up.

Rio de Janeiro resident Lourdes Guedes says she began smoking as a teenager and hasn't stopped in the 26 years since.

"I never tried to stop. I like smoking and I just won't stop."

In 1989, the Brazilian Health Ministry assigned its tobacco control and prevention program to the National Cancer Institute, or INCA. Since then, the percentage of adult smokers has gone from 34% to a registered 16.8% in 2007.

The ministry's National Tobacco Control Program coordinator, Dr. Tania Cavalcante, says the reduction is partially due to a series of preventive measures adopted by the INCA.

One of the most effective measures implemented by Cavalcante's department was a visual campaign in 2001 which legally forced the tobacco industry to include graphic images of possible side effects caused by cigarettes, along with warning labels on the back of each individual pack.

She says that the campaign has helped alert consumers to the health risks associated with smoking.

"Once this campaign and these warnings were implemented as a law in Brazil, it was possible to alert consumers and potential consumers of the magnitude of the dangers and the risks they could be to others if they consume these products."

The campaign, last updated in 2004, will be revamped again in 2009 with a series of graphic pictures and warnings suggesting cigarettes could cause heart disease, lung cancer and impotence.

Luiz Dos Santos, a 7-year cancer survivor, believes cigarettes gave him throat cancer and caused him to subsequently lose his voice.

"I am angry at myself. Why did I smoke for 43 years? It only made me feel worse. When the doctor who operated on me showed me a graph indicating the damage done to my throat just from the cigarettes, it made me nauseous. It was all because of the cigarettes, it was the cigarettes."

According to a report from the World Health Organisation, tobacco-related diseases cause 5 million deaths each year. 200,000 of them occur in Brazil.

The price of cigarettes in Brazil is still relatively inexpensive. Consumers can purchase them by the unit for as little as 18 US cents on average, or by the pack for just 1.4 US dollars.

Brazilian Health Ministry is already planning to increase cigarette taxes in 2009.

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Back Anchor: That was XX. And that concludes this edition of Reports from Developing Countries on China Radio International. For more news and in-depth reports, please visit us online at www.crienglish.com. I'm Da Min in Beijing. Thanks for listening.