Every year, the harmful use of alcohol kills 2.5 million people, including 320,000 young people between 15 and 29 years of age. It is the eighth leading risk factor for deaths globally, and harmful use of alcohol was responsible for almost 4% of all deaths in the world, according to the estimates for 2004. In addition to the resolution, a global strategy developed by WHO in close collaboration with Member States provides a portfolio of policy options and interventions for implementation at the national level with the goal to reduce the harmful use of alcohol worldwide. Ten recommended target areas for policy options include health services' responses, community action, pricing policies and reducing the public health impact of illicit alcohol and informally produced alcohol. WHO was also requested to support countries in implementing the strategy and monitor progress at global, regional and national levels.
If there is one lesson to be learned from the history of the WHO FCTC's early days, it is that the determinants of its success in tobacco control were the leadership, commitment, political will, integrity, vision and courage of the people, organizations and governments entrusted by their countries to turn the framework convention into reality. The WHO FCTC represents a future that is being created by committed men and women who believe that all people deserve a healthy, tobacco-free world. These men and women have the vision and the courage to tackle a global health challenge with a powerful, innovative and radical experiment in global public health, one that has literally changed the rules of tobacco control. This report recounts the story of the Framework Convention up to the beginning of 2010. Most of the information came from the individuals who kindly responded to a questionnaire and shared personal testimonies about this remarkable addition to the contemporary history of public health.
This book contains the guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties. These seven guidelines cover a wide range of provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, such as: the protection of public health policies with respect to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry; protection from exposure to tobacco smoke; packaging and labelling of tobacco products; and tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and demand reduction measures concerning tobacco dependence and cessation. These guidelines are intended to help Parties to meet their obligations under the respective provisions of the Convention. They reflect the consolidated views of Parties on different aspects of implementation, their experiences and achievements, and the challenges faced. The guidelines also aim to reflect and promote best practices and standards that governments would benefit from in the treaty-implementation process.
Required reading for anyone wishing to be conversant with tobacco control policy, the book is edited by Kenneth E. Warner—dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan and a leading tobacco policy researcher—who leads with an overview of the field. Warner’s overview is supported by reprints of some of the field’s most significant articles, written by leading scholars and practitioners. The topics discussed are: Taxation and Price Clean Indoor Air Laws Advertising, Ad Bans, and Counteradvertising Possession, Use, and Purchase (PUP) Laws and Sales to Minors Cessation Policy Comprehensive State Laws
The health and economic costs of tobacco use in military and veteran populations are high. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) make recommendations on how to reduce tobacco initiation and encourage cessation in both military and veteran populations. In its 2009 report, Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations, the authoring committee concludes that to prevent tobacco initiation and encourage cessation, both DoD and VA should implement comprehensive tobacco-control programs.
Data suggest that exposure to secondhand smoke can result in heart disease in nonsmoking adults. Recently, progress has been made in reducing involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke through legislation banning smoking in workplaces, restaurants, and other public places. The effect of legislation to ban smoking and its effects on the cardiovascular health of nonsmoking adults, however, remains a question. Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects reviews available scientific literature to assess the relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and acute coronary events. The authors, experts in secondhand smoke exposure and toxicology, clinical cardiology, epidemiology, and statistics, find that there is about a 25 to 30 percent increase in the risk of coronary heart disease from exposure to secondhand smoke. Their findings agree with the 2006 Surgeon General's Report conclusion that there are increased risks of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality among men and women exposed to secondhand smoke. However, the authors note that the evidence for determining the magnitude of the relationship between chronic secondhand smoke exposure and coronary heart disease is not very strong. Public health professionals will rely upon Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects for its survey of critical epidemiological studies on the effects of smoking bans and evidence of links between secondhand smoke exposure and cardiovascular events, as well as its findings and recommendations.
This report makes available the findings of an international group of experts that provide WHO with the latest scientific and technical advice in the area of product regulation. The third report presents the conclusions reached and recommendations made by the members of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation at its fifth meeting, during which it reviewed two background papers specially commissioned for the meeting and which dealt, respectively, with the following two themes: devices designed for the purpose of nicotine delivery to the respiratory system in which tobacco is not necessary for their operation and setting regulatory limits for carcinogens in smokeless tobacco. The Study Group's recommendations in relation to each theme are set out at the end of the section dealing with that theme. Its overall recommendations are summarized in section 4. The Study Group intends this new set of recommendations to be useful to WHO Member States and national policymakers and regulators in shaping tobacco control policy.
“A major contribution not just to tobacco control research but also to research on global governance and public health . . . thorough [and] compelling.” —Frank J. Chaloupka IV, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois–Chicago As the era of globalization progressed, the tobacco industry capitalized on its elements—including trade liberalization, foreign direct investment, and global communications—to expand into countries where effective tobacco control programs were not in place. As a consequence, tobacco became the leading cause of preventable death in the world, killing more people each year than HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. In the mid-1990s, a committed group of public health professionals and institutions sought to challenge the tobacco industry’s expansion by negotiating a binding international law under the auspices of the World Health Organization. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)—the first collective global response to the causation of avoidable chronic disease—was one of the most quickly ratified treaties in United Nations history. In The Global War on Tobacco, Heather Wipfli tells the engaging story of the FCTC, from its start as an unlikely civil society proposal to its enactment in 178 countries as of June 2014. Wipfli also reveals how globalization offers anti-tobacco advocates significant cooperative opportunities to share knowledge and address cross-border public health problems. The book—the first to delve deeply into the origin and development of the FCTC—seeks to advance understanding of how non-state actors, transnational networks, and international institutionalization can impact global governance for health. Case studies from a variety of diverse high-, middle-, and low-income countries provide real-world examples of the success or failure of tobacco control. Written with public health professionals and students in mind, The Global War on Tobacco is a fascinating look at how international relations is changing to respond to the modern global marketplace and protect human health.
Governments have known since the 1960s that smoking results in irreversible health damage. This open access book examines why governments have done so little to combat this when they have been aware of the problem and its solutions for decades. What are the strategies and decisions that make a difference, given that policy environments are often not conducive to change? Taking the Netherlands as an example, this book helps to understand the complex policy process at the national level and why it so often appears irrational to us. It is the most sophisticated analysis of tobacco control policy to date, applying insights from political sciences to the field of tobacco control.
The first major book by political scientists explaining global tobacco control policy. It identifies a history of minimal tobacco control then charts the extent to which governments have regulated tobacco in the modern era. It identifies major policy change from the post-war period and uses theories of public policy to help explain the change.
