Areas of Work

Tobacco Free Initiative

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 WHO 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, encourages mobilization at all levels of society; and promotes the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), encourages countries to adhere to its principles, and supports them in their efforts to implement tobacco control measures based on its provisions.

The role of WHO TFI Thailand is to strengthen national tobacco control policy, leadership, and capacity. Also, WHO seeks to coordinate, facilitate, and support government authorities and NGO networks in their implementation of WHO FCTC and the National Tobacco Control Policy and Plan.

Tobacco Control in Thailand

Thailand has a distinctive tobacco control model based on close cooperation between the Ministry of Public Health, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, and a very active coalition of tobacco control non-governmental organizations guided by a unique generation of creative civil society leaders.

This model has allowed Thailand to implement a number of strong policy measures to protect the Thai population from the dangers of tobacco. Such measures include key approaches to reducing tobacco consumption, particularly in the areas of taxation, packaging and labeling, advertising bans, and smoke-free public areas. These measures have resulted in a gradual decline in smoking among both sexes and a subsequent decrease exposure to second-hand smoke among households. Despite decreasing trends, many challenges persist. Smoking rates remain high among adult men. A higher proportion of younger women are now smoking compared with their predecessors. Exposure to second-hand smoke is still high. Read more

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 component 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.

WHO’s Roles

At present, WHO provides technical assistance to governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in the development of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) proposal.  It also communicates and discuss all technical matters with the CDC Foundation.  WHO’s efforts, however, do not come along.  Key partners from the Royal Thai Government include the Department of Disease Control, the International Health Policy Program (IHPP), and the Health System Research Institute (HSRI).  Also, WHO partners with several non-governmental stakeholders that include the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre (TRC), the National Statistical Office (NSO), the Thai Health Promotion Institute (THPI), and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Thailand.