.

Copyright 2010 HealthBridge.

Home . Who We Are . What We Do . Where We Work . What You Can Do . Mosquito Nets . Malaria Matters . Reports .  Publications Monument to Canadian Aid Workers . Contact . Website Policies

Home » What We Do » Tobacco Control » Tobacco Control Projects » Raising the Stakes on Tobacco and Poverty: Strengthening International Engagement in and Advocacy on Tobacco and Poverty Issues

Project profile

Raising the Stakes on Tobacco and Poverty: Strengthening International Engagement in and Advocacy on Tobacco and Poverty Issues

Introduction

Tobacco production and use adversely affect the socio-economic conditions of low-income families. Tobacco-related costs vastly exceed economic returns such as employment and taxes. However, some governments – particularly in lower-income countries – still use employment and revenue arguments to justify weak tobacco control measures. Despite some significant progress, tobacco remains largely ignored on the development agenda.

This project builds on the Tobacco and Poverty (Phase I) results and will increase global acknowledgement of the tobacco-poverty relationship through three strategies. It will strengthen the use of Phase I advocacy-based results to address the importance of effective fiscal policies for public health in reducing tobacco use and poverty. It will use practical tools and methods to recruit, train, and mentor new partners and to strengthen and expand the global TC community. It will also address the need to include tobacco and poverty on the international development agenda. With the aims of increasing impact and adding new knowledge, the project will (i) support selected previous partners to identify and implement targeted and high-impact fiscal policy advocacy activities; (ii) increase the capacity of existing and new partners to identify and promote best practices in tobacco control, by pairing experienced TC advocates with new groups through a mentoring and capacity building mechanism and by testing other practical tools and methods for capacity building; (iii) facilitate global knowledge exchange on and discussion of the importance of tobacco control in international development and poverty reduction.  

Objectives

Results and Impact

Key Partners: WBB Trust (Bangladesh), Voluntary Health Association of India (India), Public Health Foundation of India; Centre for Health Research, University of Indonesia (Indonesia), HealthBridge Vietnam (Vietnam); ACTbr (Brazil)

Location: International

Donor: The Bloomberg Initiative To Reduce Tobacco Use, through the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

Duration: 2011-2013

Contact person:

Sian FitzGerald, Executive Director

Phone: +1.613.241.3927 ext. 314

Email: sfitzgerald@healthbridge.ca

The objectives of this project are:

• To increase the policy advocacy impact of research results on tobacco and poverty generated from selected Phase 1 studies primarily in BI priority countries.
• To increase the capacity of a larger cadre of non-TC organizations to address tobacco control in a development context.
• To facilitate knowledge exchange that enhances global coordination and collaboration to promote tobacco control as a key global health priority.

• The high-impact activity in India began on 1 November; it will sensitize fiscal policy makers on the issue of effective and sustainable alternate livelihood options for tobacco growers and workers. In most other countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam), the proposed activities will begin in December.

Related Links – external:

International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

Objective 1:

Objective 2:

• The network of T&P partners continues to grow, with additional researchers and advocates added to the network from Latin America and South Asia, and the potential expansion of the network to include NCD researchers and advocates. As the network grows, so too does the breadth of research interests/areas of expertise of its members.
• Identified 3 calls for proposals that could be related to tobacco and poverty. CFPs circulated to the T&P network as well as other relevant TC organisations for further dissemination.
• Plans are being finalized for the skills-building workshop which will be held at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Singapore in March 2012.
• Phase I research results book disseminated.
• Mentorship provided to interested researchers and advocates on an as-requested basis.

Objective 3:

• HB requested to present at WCTOH hemi-plenary session "Tobacco Control in Asia – Challenges and Opportunities", focusing on tobacco and development.
• Reviewed the Political Declaration of the UN high-level meeting (HLM) on NCDs for tobacco control issues. HB co-authored an article about HLM (progress and global expectations). Article to be published in Global Heart, official journal of the World Heart Federation.
• WHO is sponsoring an issue of the Indian Journal of Community Medicine focused on NCDs. HB co-authored an article with PHFI on the social determinants of NCDs and mainstreaming health promotion.
• Prepared a docket on Indonesia’s interventions at the HLM for colleagues monitoring the country’s international commitments to tobacco control. They are using this for in-country advocacy to get the country to ratify the FCTC.
• Completed a review of current literature to identify strategies, reports and countries that identify NCDs as part of their activities. The following organisations and documents were included in the review:  (i) regional cooperation, such as AU (including NEPAD), Mercosul, ASEAN and EC documents;  (ii) bilateral agencies; (iii)  multilateral donors, such as World Bank, International Health Partnership + and EC; (iv) EC country strategy papers (to identify countries that already include health in their strategies); (v) poverty reduction strategies (6 countries reviewed thus far); (vi) a variety of other organisations working on global health and related issues, as well as foundations and other NGOs. Report produced.
• Hosted a session on Tobacco and the Development Agenda at the 3rd Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Tobacco or Health (Lima Peru, 18 October). Presentations were made by HealthBridge and partners from Brazil, Peru, Mexico and Honduras on the impacts that the research has had on tobacco control in their countries.
• Participated in FCA’s task force on Committee B issues (involving treaty mechanisms and funding) to raise issue of tobacco and development.
• Participated in the NCD Alliance Common Interest Group call and raised questions about the level of involvement of development agencies.
• Exploring participation at Rio Summit on Social Determinants of NCDs and FCTC Art 6 Working Group.
• Developed a project idea to explore the social determinants of NCDs and mainstreaming NCDs into development programmes. Funding explored with WHO-NCD department and the Indian Ministry of Health.

Lessons Learned:

The significant value of having partners from the Phase I project - including those not directly involved in this Phase II project - continue to present their work at regional and international conferences was emphasized during the 3rd Latin America and Caribbean  Conference on Tobacco or Health. During this conference, partners from Brazil, Peru, Mexico and Honduras made presentations about the ongoing impacts that their earlier research has had on tobacco control in their countries. These presentations helped to raise awareness among other researchers and advocates of the work that can be done in their own countries, as well as the ongoing nature of research-based advocacy.

Recommendations:

None to date

Reports and Resources

Reports

Publications