http://www.worldlungfoundation.org/ht/display/ReleaseDetails/i/36828/pid/6858
(October 17th, 2015, Beijing, China and New York, USA) – World Lung Foundation (WLF) is delighted to announce that at an event today in Beijing, the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (CATC) recognized both World Lung Foundation and Dr. Judith Mackay, WLF Senior Advisor for Tobacco Control, for their role in fighting the global tobacco epidemic. In addition, WLF congratulates CATC on its silver anniversary – marking 25 years of CATC playing a leading role in efforts to reduce tobacco use in China.
Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President, Policy, Advocacy and Communication, WLF, said: “WLF is delighted to be recognized by the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control for its work to date and thanks CATC for this honor. We congratulate our valued colleague Dr. Judith Mackay on her individual award, which is further recognition of her tireless work in combating the global tobacco epidemic. And we congratulate the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control on its silver anniversary.
“For the past 25 years, CATC has played a leading role in efforts to reduce tobacco use in China, making a significant contribution to progress at a regional and national level. We particularly recognize CATC for actively advancing the implementation of WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.”
Mullin continued: “Amidst the celebration today, we acknowledge that much more needs to be done to reduce the terrible burden of tobacco, which kills more than 1.3 million people in China every year, and sickens and disables many more. CATC has an important role to play in helping to prevent needless tobacco-related disease and premature death.”
“We support CATC in this endeavor and also stand ready to play our part. According to the latest China City Adult Tobacco Survey, public awareness of the specific harms of tobacco remains low in China’s cities. To overcome this problem, WLF pledges to continue to support evidence-based, effective tobacco control campaigns at both national and subnational levels. Commitment and action from government, health advocates and civil society can and will save many lives.”
The burden of tobacco use in China
Today, the imperative to reduce tobacco use in China remains as urgent as ever. The Tobacco Atlas notes that more than 275,900,000 adults and more than 8,937,000 children continue to use tobacco each day. Every year, more than 1,384,200 of China’s people are killed by tobacco-caused disease. In addition, a paper recently published in The Lancet revealed that smoking initiation among men is happening at a younger age and that smokers continue to smoke for longer compared with previous generations, increasing their risk of disease and premature death.
Unless significant advances are made in reducing tobacco use, the study predicts that one in three of all young men in China will eventually die from tobacco use and smoking-related premature death – from conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, stroke and heart disease – will claim two million lives every year by 2030.
WLF’s activities in China
CATC recognized WLF for helping governments around the world to deliver clear, hard-hitting messages about the harms of tobacco to more than two billion people. WLF uses best practice methodologies including pre-campaign message testing, careful media planning and post-campaign evaluation and – in line with WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control –– aims to help countries become self-sufficient in the use of counter-marketing strategies to increase support for and build compliance with tobacco control laws.
In China, WLF supports efforts to: increase public awareness of the specific harms of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke, create support for the implementation of and compliance with tobacco control policies, and encourage behaviour change. Since 2008, WLF has supported over 50 evidence-based tobacco control mass media campaigns in China. Some were developed to promote national initiatives, like building support for a national smokefree law and a campaign to discourage giving cigarettes as gifts. City-specific campaigns like “Smoke free Olympics”, “Smoke free Tianjin”, “Smoke free Harbin”, ”Smoke free Shenzhen”, and most recently “Smoke free Beijing”, have run in more than 30 cities across China.
About World Lung Foundation
World Lung Foundation was established in response to the global epidemic of lung disease, which kills 10 million people each year. WLF advances global health by improving local health capacity, by supporting operational research, by developing public policy and by delivering public education through mass and social media campaigns. The organization’s areas of emphasis are road safety, tobacco control, maternal and infant mortality prevention, obesity, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, asthma, and child lung health. For more information, please visit worldlungfoundation.org or Twitter: @WorldLungFdn
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Tracey Johnston, World Lung Foundation, at +44.7889.081.170 or tjohnston@worldlungfoundation.org.