Areas of Work

Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI)

Tobacco is a major cause of death in the world. One in ten adults worldwide (about 5 million) die each year from smoking related illnesses. If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths annually by 2020. Half the people that smoke today – about 650 million people – will eventually be killed by tobacco.

The objective of the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) is to reduce the global burden of disease and death caused by tobacco, thereby protecting present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.

The primary strategy of WHO is to promote a global response to the tobacco epidemic through global policy leadership, social mobilisation, and promotion and support of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC). WHO also provides technical assistance to member states to support implementation of the WHO – FCTC and enable non parties to strengthen their tobacco control policies and to qualify as parties to the Convention.

The role of WHO TFI Thailand is to strengthen national capacity implementation that complies with the FCTC and will be mainly two-fold; Tobacco control (Capacity building) and Tobacco surveillance (Monitoring and evaluation).

In Thailand WHO and four key partners; the World Lung Foundation, the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Foundation, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; are working to implement the Tobacco Free Initiative project with support from The Bloomberg Global Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (BGI). Thisinitiative aims to end the global tobacco epidemic by providing funds for activities that promote freedom from smoking.

Tobacco Control

The key part of the work is capacity building through strengthening the individual capability of governmental and non-governmental organisations for tobacco control and by strengthening the TFI at WHO Thailand. Support for capacity building would enable countries to design and implement national tobacco control policy, strategy and plans, to create or strengthen tobacco control units of the state which are supported by a broad coalition of governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Ongoing tasks:

      Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Public Health and other non-governmental organisations in developing and submitting the proposal “Towards 100% smoke-free environment (SFE) in Thailand” to be funded under the BGI Grant.

      Support the development, promotion and implementation of the smoke-free hotel programme(List of WHO Recommended Smoke-free Hotels, click here).

      Work with the Greenleaf Foundation to recommend that the United Nations agencies, the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) and the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), consider selecting only smoke-free hotels for accommodating their delegates and for organizing local activities.

      Coordinate with WHO HQ/SEARO and relevant organisations in sending representatives from governmental and non-governmental organisations in Thailand to attend relevant meetings on tobacco control.

      Liaise between WHO HQ/SEARO and the Ministry of Public Health, as well as concerned non-governmental organisations, in conducting the Assessment of National Capacity for Tobacco Control in Thailand.

      Coordinate with the MOPH and partners to develop the youth leaders for non-smoking camps project. This is an effort to utilise the power of peers to prevent tobacco use among young people.

Partners:

Government: The Tobacco & Alcohol Consumption Control Group, Bureau of Non Communicable Disease Control, Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases, Department of Disease Control, Department of Health, Department of Mental Health, and other non-health ministries.

Non-Government: Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Thailand, Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre (TRC), Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Thai Health Promotion Institute, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), Mahidol University, and others.

Tobacco Surveillance

This component includes supporting the establishment of the National Tobacco Surveillance System, data-gathering and analysis of tobacco use, exposure to second-hand smoke, health outcomes, policy implementation and industry monitoring. This will be achieved as part of the Global Tobacco Control Report process as well as through work with CDC Foundation in the area of surveillance. It also includes undertaking The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) to measure trends in exposure to tobacco and tobacco smoke and the economic impact of legislation.

Ongoing tasks:

      Provide technical assistance to governmental and non-governmental organisations involved in the development of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) proposal.

      Communicate and discuss all technical matters with the CDC Foundation.

Partners:

Government: Department of Disease Control, International Health Policy Program (IHPP), Health System Research Institute (HSRI)

Non-Government: Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre (TRC), National Statistical Office (NSO), Thai Health Promotion Institute (THPI), Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Thailand.