Home » What We Do » Tobacco Control
Tobacco Control
Tobacco use is a major cause of preventable death around the world. Given that people
of low-
Fortunately, international experience has shown what measures are most effective to greatly reduce tobacco use. By helping governments to pass strong laws on tobacco control and increase tobacco taxes, tobacco use can be significantly reduced, thereby improving health and the environment and reducing poverty.
HealthBridge has provided long term support to partners in several countries. This has helped them work with their Governments to ratify and implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to create strong tobacco control policies, as well as build local networks, increase media cooperation, empower local NGOs, carry out needed research and produce the evidence and materials to help make change happen.
HealthBridge works in partnership with local NGOs and government in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to improve and initiate tobacco control policy development and implementation.
Our strategies include:
- Carrying out long-
term, intensive, low- cost programs to build networks, working with media, conducting research, producing information materials, and advocating for change. - Producing guides to tobacco control work (see our reports), including ones on low-
cost approaches to working with media and carrying out research for advocacy, addressing industry- sponsored youth smoking prevention campaigns, and identifying major points to include in tobacco control law. - Conducting groundbreaking research on the ways that tobacco use can worsen poverty
for users and for tobacco-
related workers.
HealthBridge is represented on the board of the Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control, and has been the recipient of the WHO World No Tobacco Day Award (for our Ottawa and Hanoi offices).
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
For more about our work in Tobacco Control, contact:
Regional Director
Tobacco Control Projects
Reports and Resources
Home . Who We Are . What We Do . Where We Work . What You Can Do . Mosquito Nets . Malaria Matters . Reports and Resources . Monument to Canadian Aid Workers .
HealthBridge has just published a guide that will assist those conducting or interested
in research for advocacy in tobacco and poverty. Funded by the Bloomberg Initiative
to Reduce Tobacco Use (BI) through a grant from The International Union Against Tuberculosis
and Lung Disease (The Union), this guide is aimed at both tobacco control advocates
who wish to address tobacco and poverty issues and researchers who wish to get involved
in tobacco control by exploring tobacco and poverty. The guide will be of most use
to people who wish to improve tobacco control policies and who are interested in
generating new tobacco control-
The Global Tobacco Control Forum
The Global Tobacco Control Forum (the Forum) is an informal network consisting of several Canadian organizations that share a common interest in global public health issues. The impetus behind the creation of the Forum was the need to foster a cohesive Canadian civil society response to the global tobacco epidemic.
The Forum’s member organizations first joined efforts in 2000 to support Canada’s leadership role in creating, adopting, and ratifying the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s first public health treaty.
Despite this success, the lack of resources remains a significant obstacle to effectively
implementing the treaty, particularly in low-
Recognizing that an opportunity existed to build upon and broaden the existing partnership, in 2003 the Forum members began to support partners in developing countries, thereby helping them to meet their FCTC obligations.
The Forum provides an example of how a network of non-
The Forum’s Goals
The overall goal of the Forum is to reduce the vulnerability of low-
- To support the government of Canada in meeting its obligations to the FCTC.
- To support the tobacco control efforts of NGO and government partners in key countries and regions worldwide.
- To strengthen the work of Canadian and international networks on tobacco control
The Forum’s Supporters
The Forum’s work is currently supported by both its member organizations and the Government of Canada.
The Forum’s Work
The Forum undertakes a range of activities throughout the world, including:
- Providing technical assistance to partners in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
- Developing, nurturing and maintaining relationships and networks with, and among,
key low– and middle-
income country colleagues. - Conducting research, informing and fostering consensus on key policy issues, and participating in the development of FCTC guidelines, policies and programs.
- Supporting the development of a global civil society response to the tobacco epidemic.
- Monitoring national and global tobacco industry activities.
- Keeping Canadians informed about national and global tobacco issues.
Member agencies:
Contact: Sandra Wiens Flores, HealthBridge Tobacco Control Coordinator at: swiens@healthbridge.ca
Making the Tobacco and Poverty Link: Results from Research for Advocacy Projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
HealthBridge has just published the results from its 12-
Tobacco Use Increases Poverty and Inequity in Vietnam Factsheet, HealthBridge, 2010
Tobacco Smuggling Fact Sheet, HealthBridge, 2009
Tobacco Taxation Fact Sheet, HealthBridge, 2009
Tobacco Pictorial Package Warnings Fact Sheet, HealthBridge, 2009
FACTSHEETS
HealthBridge has a long relationship with the Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco
Control (FCA) via its tobacco control program. HealthBridge’s India Program Director,
Shoba John, is the outgoing FCA Chair, and HealthBridge hosts three FCA staff members
in its Ottawa office. Two of them also work part-
