Daily Programme

Thursday, 19 March

09:00-10:30

01

FCTC research priorities in low- and middle-income countries

PANEL DISCUSSION

A series of papers was published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research (NTR) in 2013 identifying critical research priorities in support of the FCTC, with a particular focus on low and middle income countries (LMICs). The goal of this symposium is to present research recommendations from the recent NTR journal that are most relevant and can be implemented by low and middle income countries.

02

Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV): a campaign for policy change

It is a victims' led initiative with direct support from their treating physicians to sensitize policymakers, law enforcers, bureaucrats & media by conveying what tobacco use has done to them & its impact on their families. Victims are generally patients of mouth & throat cancer. Victims advocate for adoption & implementation of effective and topical tobacco control policies. The physicians and tobacco control advocates remain in the background with relevant research data and the evidence on the effectiveness of the policies demanded by the victims.

03

04

Do international trade treaties protect health of citizens? Examples, challenges and global evidences CANCELLED

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the only global public health treaty but its practical implementation at global and national level is complex and compromised due vested interests. Several provisions of the treaties create flashpoints which are contentious and challenging for their implementation by sovereign states in particular. The industry’s influence constrains effective implementation (as in the plain packaging case) and shows it has been able to manipulate nations and challenge the sovereign rights of others

05

Alternative tobacco products: Evidence base for interventions to prevent or control waterpipe tobacco use

While cigarette smoking has been given attention for over 50 years, waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) has just recently been receiving attention as it has become a world-wide epidemic, especially among youth. Though growing evidence suggests that waterpipe smoking has a high potential for deleterious health effects, it, unfortunately, remains peripheral to tobacco control efforts. Thus, this symposium aims to review the evidence on what we know about waterpipe tobacco smoking prevention and control interventions, which is critical to guide future research and inform practice and policy.

06

Tobacco product regulation: Science and evaluation

PANEL DISCUSSION

There have been varied approaches to tobacco regulation in different countries with different levels of success. Most of the policies have had some difficulties in implementation, usually with legal challenges from the tobacco industry. Each country has its own set of requirements for instituting tobacco regulatory policies with some having a firm requirement for evidence-based science. Other countries are able to institute policies based on predicted impact. It is important to be able to learn from each country and each type of policy in order to more firmly establish the evidence-base.

07

Innovative approaches to endgame for tobacco

The Endgame Conference 2013 built on the global tobacco endgame narrative (reducing consumption & availability of tobacco to minimal levels) through full and effective implementation of FCTC and adopting new strategies. Tobacco Control is becoming integral to the sustainable development agenda, prioritizing WHA target of 30% relative reduction in tobacco use prevalence by 2025 and swiftly moving towards eliminating tobacco use in all forms globally, by 2050. This session will assess the preparedness and progress towards viable strategies for ending tobacco related harms to health and development.

08

Is tobacco control being crowded out or reinforced by the new emphasis on NCDs? Some national experience

Increasing global discussions about non-communicable diseases in recent years have had variable results in different countries, resulting in mixed reactions from the tobacco control community. Some fear a dilution of tobacco control, due to increased responsibilities for health ministry personnel not being matched by increased budgets. Others see an opportunity to build new alliances and renew political commitment to FCTC implementation. This session looks at government and civil society experience in four developing countries.

09

Smoking Attributable Mortality (SAM): Establishing reliable global and national estimates

PANEL DISCUSSION

This session will present findings from the Global Smoking-Attributable Mortality (SAM) Initiative to estimate the population burden of smoking globally. Existing methodology provides accurate estimates in many developed countries, but without country-specific data for other regions, producing valid estimates for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is challenging. Several key experts are working on revised methodologies to address this gap. A method to quantify the burden of smoking is a vital advocacy tool in countries with limited resources.

Sponsored Core Symposium 01

Tobacco cessation in TB and HIV patients: 'A low-hanging fruit'

14:00-15:30

10

Building regional research capacity to guide policy for waterpipe smoking

Waterpipe smoking (WPS) is increasing globally, yet evidence based policies lag behind. This discrepancy is most notable in the Eastern Mediterranean (EMR), where WPS is very popular among youth. Since its inception in 2001, the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (SCTS) has been working to create regional capacity in tobacco control research. As part of these efforts, SCTS is planning a seed grants program to allow researchers conduct research projects related to WPS. This symposium will provide scientific update about the evidence regarding WPS and a venue for seed grantees to present their data.

11

Innovative communication strategies to promote tobacco control policies

This session seeks to strengthen the capacity of communicators, activists and researchers to develop and implement communication strategies for tobacco control through the discussion and exchange of experiences. Communications experts from Latin American NGOs will present diverse communication strategies and tools as central elements for promoting legislation, countering tobacco industry’s strategies, disseminating research’s results and sensitizing and educating the population about tobacco epidemic.

12

Coordinated global action: Challenging PMI’s youth-targeted “Be Marlboro” ad campaign

In 2011, PMI launched “Be Marlboro”, a youth oriented marketing campaign designed to replace the Marlboro Man. In response, advocates launched a global campaign calling on PMI to end BM and urging governments to implement TAPS bans. Using the BM case study, this symposium will describe elements of industry-focused discrediting campaigns and demonstrate that such campaigns can help advance tobacco control policies. Panelists will discuss BM campaigning in Latin America, Eastern Europe and ASEAN. The session will end with recommendations for pursuing industry campaigns.

13

Smokefree environments from the human rights perspective

Passive smoking in closed public spaces is a widespread form of violence, oriented mainly against small children and weak population groups, such as those suffering from lung or heart problems. The problem is particularly acute for pregnant women and employees in those premises, who without defenses are subject to inadvertent smoking and suffer heavy consequences on a personal, family, and societal level.

14

Mentoring and training in tobacco control: A roadmap for building capacity, sustainability and future leaders in LMICs

PANEL DISCUSSION

This session will review best practices in mentoring and training in tobacco control and share results and experiences from both high and low income countries. Although there are many types of successful mentoring programmes for building capacity, networks and research agendas, it is still under-utilized and under-estimated as a tool for strengthening coordination of tobacco control and as an approach for enhancing tobacco control sustainability.

15

New conversations from the Tobacco Free Generation 2000 proposal

Since the publication of the Tobacco Free Generation 2000 (TFG2000) Proposal in 2010 and its presentation at the 2013 World Conference as an End Game proposal, there have been growing international interests. A host of interests and new conversations have been bubbling up in several parts of the world because the approach has two main benefits. 1. It paints a new vision using a date based proposal to prevent tobacco use in a new generation and 2. It does not disenfranchise current smokers.

16

Implementation of Article 5.3: Best practices, challenges, lessons learned from country-level experiences

Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC is arguably the backbone of the global tobacco treaty. It is the global public health community’s response to the tobacco industry’s aggressive campaign to block, weaken, and delay the life-saving measures of the FCTC. However, the implementation of this Article and its guidelines has been sporadic since the passage of the guidelines. This symposium will explore the efforts of the World Health Organization and civil society organizations to build capacity of advocates and governments to implement Article 5.3 as well as available tools to facilitate implementation

17

Tobacco packaging and labelling: A global perspective

Tobacco packaging is a critical communications tool for the tobacco industry and also for governments. This symposium will consider international trends in tobacco packaging and labelling, the importance of health warning design, and the need for innovation with respect to using the packaging to communicate health messages. We will also explore consumer and stakeholders’ perceptions of plain packaging. This will include presenting the only existing plain packaging studies from Asia and Africa, and a panel study from Australia conducted before and after the introduction of plain packaging.

18

Achieving the 25 by 25 NCD target: The role of tobacco control

In May 2013 all WHO Member States agreed to an ambitious target of reducing premature NCD mortality by 25% by 2025 (“25 by 25”), as part of the Global Monitoring Framework (GMF) for the Global NCD Action Plan on NCDs (GAP). This joint NCD Alliance/World Heart Federation symposium situates tobacco control policy and cessation therapy within the broader framework of the GMF and the GAP. It examines how the development of national NCD plans can be leveraged to strengthen tobacco control policy and to build health system capacity to deliver effective cessation therapy.

19

The WHO FCTC in the EMR region and tobacco control: 10 years in existence, what is needed?

The aim of this symposium is that based on evaluating the demand-side measures implementation of the WHO FCTC is to measure the situation of tobacco control at regional level; after 10 years of the WHO FCTC adoption. The session will identify gaps in implementation; come up with a clear way forward towards full implementation of the treaty and finally gear up political commitment for tobacco control in general and the WHO FCTC implementation in particular.

Thursday, 19 March

16:00-17:30

20

Building national level capacity for tobacco control: The case of Africa

As the tobacco industry targets Africa for its expansion, governments in the Region need to be more prepared to avoid the spread of the tobacco epidemic. Many countries in the African Region do not yet have comprehensive legislation, while implementation of the WHO FCTC is also not optimal. This session will describe the challenges faced in Africa and how capacity building at country level is acting to strengthen government action in tobacco control and reverse the growing trends in tobacco consumption in the Region.

21

Global challenges in the regulation of tobacco products

Progress was achieved on tobacco product regulation through FCTC, TobReg, TobLabNet, EU, Health Canada & US FDA; however, many challenges remain in implementing effective regulation of products other than cigarettes- waterpipe & smokeless tobacco, electronic nicotine delivery systems, bidis, etc. There are no agreed upon standards regarding the ingredients, emissions, additives, & design features of these products. The symposium will offer recommendations to fill in these gaps & also addresses unconventional tobacco products that are manufactured & distributed in non-standard commercial ways.

22

Social marketing to change behavior in non-communicable diseases

Effective NCD prevention requires initiating changes in behavior at a population level, both through effective public policy and public education. Lessons for how to use social marketing to promote policy and behavior change can be learned not only from tobacco, but also from other non-communicable disease prevention areas such as road safety and obesity prevention. Presentations will include case studies of best practice campaigns using traditional mass media to influence change among governments and citizens alike.

23

Recent perspectives on the economics of tobacco control

PANEL DISCUSSION

Economics provide a rich framework for measuring the impact on the tobacco epidemic and for evaluating and understanding the impact of tobacco control measures such as the WHO FCTC. This symposium brings together leading experts in the economics of tobacco control to present and discuss recent findings across a broad range of topics from an economic perspective: tax/price policies, including the impact of tax structure of effectiveness of those policies, non-price policies, globalization and development issues, and the economic impact of tobacco control.

Regional collaboration and an enabling legal framework: Driving forces behind Latin American countries record adoption of FCTC policies

The objective of this session is to tell the successful collaborations between government, civil society groups and international entities in Latin America, a region with a large number of countries that have authorized tobacco control programs incorporating FCTC policies.

Implementing the FCTC's Illicit Trade Protocol: challenges and successes

In 2012, the FCTC Conference of the Parties adopted a Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP). In 2015, there remain many unanswered questions about the practicalities of implementation, the availability of technical assistance, co-operation with other international organizations and financial resources. Despite these questions, a number of countries have moved ahead with implementation of some provisions of the Protocol. This session will look at experience to date and discuss what will be needed to make the Protocol a success.

26

What do multi-country studies tell us about the tobacco epidemic and smoking cessation?

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey and the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Survey are large, multi-country studies to monitor and evaluate tobacco policy implementation and impacts. Using data from these studies, this symposium will showcase results from cross-country comparative research to better understand similarities and differences in the determinants of tobacco use and smoking cessation, and how these relationships are shaped by policy, programmatic, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts. Sponsored by the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco, Global Health Network.

Innovative funding strategies for global tobacco control

PANEL DISCUSSION

At a time of heightened expectations yet increasingly limited resource, this session plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of global tobacco control. After sharing their organizations’current strategies for supporting tobacco control, panelists will engage in a provocative moderated dialog regarding ways to build a more comprehensive and sustainable funding model for the future. Diverse sectors including government, industry, philanthropy, and development agencies will be represented on the panel.

28

Tobacco industry interference: Same intention, new strategies

PANEL DISCUSSION

This session will provide an overview of the most recent strategies of the tobacco industry to interfere with implementation of the WHO FCTC, with a global, regional and country-level discussion of the most commonly strategies, including litigation arguments, observed. It will also discuss how countries are fighting back and the resources available to assist countries, particularly with implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC. The session will be interactive, comprising a panel formed by country representatives and international experts in dialogue with the Chair and the audience. The panel composition covers most of WHO regions and also government / nongovernmental experience. In particular, the Chair will engage in a dialogue with the panellists on South-East Asian countries experience with tools for tracking the industry; on Jordan’s and Jamaica’s experience in countering industry’s approach to new frontiers; on the experience of tobacco control advocates countering tobacco industry’s efforts to block the EU Tobacco Products Directive; and on tobacco industry’s reaction to New Zealand’s announcement of tobacco endgame.

Can tobacco executives be held criminally responsible for the tobacco-related deaths of their customers?

The lethal consequences of smoking have been known to tobacco corporations for decades, yet they continue the manufacturing, sale and promotion of cigarettes, with full knowledge that the ordinary use of cigarettes causes death. In light of the above, we believe that it is now time to consider criminal laws to ensure that tobacco companies and their executives face the rule of law and justice. This presentation will identify and discuss possible venues and criminal charges.

Capital Suite 1

Capital Suite 3

Capital Suite 5

04. Globalisation of tobacco interference
 Chair: Paula Johns (Brazil)

Capital Suite 7