GENEVA, Nov. 6 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- In August, Michael R. Bloomberg,
Mayor of New York City, announced his commitment to donate US$125 million
towards an initiative to end the global tobacco epidemic. The World Health
Organization (WHO) is pleased to be one of the five key partners in the
initiative and looks forward to working closely with the other partners.
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This initiative presents an opportunity to immediately scale up tobacco
control efforts in developing countries where the health burden is the
highest. Working with other project partners, WHO (through its Tobacco Free
Initiative) will play an important leadership role in strengthening tobacco
control systems by working to ensure that country level interventions are
effective and in line with best evidence and policies.
Specifically, WHO will expand the public-sector support and guidance it
already provides to help governments around the world develop national
tobacco control plans, pass and enforce key laws and implement effective
policies and tobacco control measures. Those measures include tobacco tax
increases, advertising bans, mandatory health warning labels and smoking
bans, as set out in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO
FCTC), the key international treaty on tobacco control.
WHO will continue to lead the development and setting of international
standards on tobacco control, working closely with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention Foundation on global surveillance of tobacco use. At
the same time, WHO will work with the World Lung Foundation to advance
ongoing monitoring activities that measure how effectively tobacco control
policies are implemented at the country level.
Mr Bloomberg’s generous donation injects valuable momentum into our
shared effort to reduce the global burden of disease and death caused by
tobacco. WHO welcomes the opportunity to be part of this initiative and looks
forward to working with the other project partners.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is one of the most widely
endorsed treaties in UN history, with 140 Parties.
Note to Editors:
In addition to the WHO, other partner organizations in the initiative
include the Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health and the World Lung Foundation.
All press releases, fact sheets and other WHO media material may be found
at: http://www.who.int .
