Download PDF : Successes and new emerging challenges in tobacco control. addressing the vector Ed TC 12 03
INTRODUCTIONThere have been momentous events intobacco control since the first edition ofTobacco Control was launched in 1992.These include increased global awarenessof the harmfulness of tobacco and theWHO Framework Convention on TobaccoControl (WHO FCTC).1 The WHO FCTCrepresents the most momentous milestone;it was the first treaty negotiatedunder the auspices of the WHO andentered into force in 2005. It is one of themost rapidly embraced UN treaties andrepresents a paradigm shift in developinga regulatory strategy to address addictivesubstances. In contrast to previous drugcontrol treaties, the WHO FCTC assertedthe importance of demand reductionstrategies as well as supply issues and thusestablished a framework for an integratedmultisectoral response to a grave publichealth issue.Other major achievements includestrengthening of the international nongovernmentalmovement against tobacco,for example, continuing and expandedworld conferences on tobacco or health;the establishment of the InternationalNetwork of Women Against Tobacco,inaugurated about the same time as thelaunch of the journal; the FrameworkConvention Alliance formed in 1999;international web-based networks ontobacco. There has been a significantincrease in research on the effects oftobacco and secondhand smoke, theeconomic costs of tobacco and thebehaviour of the tobacco companies;financial contributions of major internationaldonors have increased the levels offunding for tobacco control efforts in lowandmiddle-income countries. Other keydevelopments include the series of WHOReports on the Global Tobacco Epidemic,2which provides an unprecedented level ofdetail and roadmaps for effective solutions;reduction in smoking prevalencerates in many parts of the world; and theUN summit on NoncommunicableDiseases (NCDs) in 2011, in which theneed to address tobacco use prevalencewas highlighted as a cornerstone of NCDinterventions. That said, the past 20 yearshave also brought an increasing resistanceto tobacco control measures and emergingthreats to public health by the tobaccoindustry, a phenomenon requiringa worldwide coordinated response in orderto sufficiently and effectively curb theglobal tobacco epidemic.