Fund managers in charge of $3.8 trillion of assets have called on the world to stop investing in tobacco companies.

Four of the largest funds in the group, Axa, Calpers, Scor and AMP Capital, have already sold their tobacco investments.

The group issued a statement on Wednesday, World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), which reads: “We in the investment community are becoming increasingly aware of the important role we can play in helping to address the health and societal impacts of tobacco.

”We strive within our own scope of action to support the ambition of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in line with our commitment to the positive role finance can play in sustainable development more broadly".

Axa, France’s largest investment fund, announced a year ago that it would divest completely from the tobacco industry, selling $2bn worth of assets.

“We strongly believe in the positive role insurance can play in society, and that insurers are part of the solution when it comes to health prevention to protect our clients,” deputy chief executive Thomas Buberl said in a statement at the time.

“Hence, it makes no sense for us to continue our investments within the tobacco industry.”

The World Health Organisation instigated WNTD as part of one of its official global health campaigns.

On its website, the WHO describes tobacco as an “epidemic” that represents, “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced”.

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Smoking kills more than 7 million people a year, including around 890,000 non-smokers exposed to second-hand fumes, according to the WHO.

A survey published by the European Commission to coincide with WNTD found that there has been no decrease in the number of regular smokers in the EU since 2014. Amongst 15 to 24-year-olds the number of daily smokers has gone up in that time.