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World Conference on Tobacco or Health begins in Mumbai

MUMBAI: The 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCOTH) was inaugurated by Maharashtra Governor S.C. Jamir at the National Centre for the Performing Arts , on Sunday.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who addressed the gathering said despite the efforts of the government and many Non Government Organisations , implementation of World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control , which India has ratified, has been delayed due to political and non-political pressures. “Hopefully by 31st May we will have pictorial warnings on all tobacco products,” Dr. Ramadoss said.

He enumerated the various decision taken by the Indian government to tackle the ‘tobacco menace’ and added that the issue is all-the-more important in the country because a large of its population was young and under the radar of tobacco companies. “In India, 57 per cent of men and just over 10 per cent women in the age group 15 to 49 years use tobacco in some form or the other. 33.3 per cent of men smoke and 23.7 per cent use chewing tobacco or pan masala, an addictive flavoured tobacco and betel nut mixture. Among women, the figures are 1.6 percent and nearly 10 percent.”

Margaret Chan, Director-General (WHO), joined the conference through a pre recorded key note address, emphasised the need to create awareness to ensure that the ‘money making’ tobacco industry did not take more innocent lives.

“This conference is going to provide an opportunity to a diverse assemblage of educators, policy makers, civil society members and scientists from all over the world to interact with each other. It will surely go a long way in advancing tobacco control in developing countries and providing a global perspective on tobacco control issues,” Dr. Chan said.

Prakash C. Gupta, President of the 14th WCOTH said: “The conference will give everyone an opportunity to focus on the complex tobacco problem in the country, which has the largest spectrum of tobacco products — from industrial ones like gutkha to custom-made products like betel quid.”

Dr. Gupta further added that, “So far, most of the focus was on Western countries but the business has decreased in industrialised countries and the big tobacco companies are already targeting developing countries for expansion.”

Maharashtra Home Minister Jayanhth Patil thanked the delegates for coming from all over the globe to participate in the conference.

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Global Tobacco Control: Multi Sectoral Approach to Tobacco Control-Policies, Pathways, Partners and People’.

The Five day conference, which will witness more than 600 participants, 250 international speakers and 2,000 delegates from over 130 countries aims at discussing various policy aspects of tobacco control — economic, health and environment. The conference aims to advance tobacco control in many ways by generating interest and greater involvement of different stakeholders, advancing tobacco control policies and providing a global perspective on tobacco control issues.

Since its introduction in 1966, the conference is held every three years in different countries. The hosts for this conference are Salaam Bombay Foundation, ACT India, Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Health Department of Maharashtra government, Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and The Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco consumption.

The WHO is the technical sponsor for the conference and will actively facilitate discussion and implementation of successful tobacco control strategies.

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