So Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg are teaming up to tackle tobacco.
I’ll leave it to The Associated Press to provide the background, then I’ll rail a little.

NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft founder Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are pooling their piles of money to pour $375 million into a global effort to cut smoking.
The billionaire philanthropists, who have a combined worth of more than $70 billion, said Wednesday that the money will help efforts in developing countries where tobacco use is highest. There are more than 1 billion smokers worldwide.
The $250 million from Bloomberg and $125 million from Gates will support projects that raise tobacco taxes, help smokers quit, ban tobacco advertising and protect nonsmokers from exposure to smoke. It will also aid efforts to track tobacco use and better understand tobacco control strategies.
“Together we can make a clear, measurable difference — not just for ourselves and our generation but for the generations that come after us,” Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg, an ex-smoker, and Gates made the announcement together at a Manhattan news conference — an appearance that Gates noted was his first public event since ending his full-time tenure at Microsoft Corp. to spend more time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Two parts of this story, in bold above, seem in conflict.
The first bit of understanding of tobacco-control strategies needed is for philanthropists who believe tobacco taxes are aimed at cutting smoking.
Lawmakers raise taxes — on tobacco, alcohol, automobiles, etc. — to raise money.
If they were to set taxes high enough to reduce smoking to a large degree, they would lose revenue for the anti-smoking programs they promise to fund with them.
And then where would they be? (Out of a job, perhaps.)
I’m no fan of smoking but, really, Bloomberg and Gates should take raising tobacco taxes out of their strategy.