European Commission provides € 5.2 million to help lower income countries in
tobacco control
The European Commission has decided to provide a € 5.2 million contribution to the
World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to help
middle and low income countries tackle tobacco control effectively.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)1, an evidence-based
international treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, is the
basis for governments worldwide to implement effective tobacco control policies and to
address the risk factors of tobacco consumption and exposure.
The main focus of EU support will be to assist with needs assessment in the area of
tobacco control in order to help these countries to fully implement the FCTC and to better
integrate tobacco control policies into their national health programmes and strategies.
This contribution complements the various global efforts to reduce the burden of noncommunicable
diseases, which are on the rise worldwide. It is estimated that tobacco use
is one of the leading global causes of preventable death, killing more than five million
people worldwide each year2.
The UN High Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases on 19 and 20 September
2011, in its political declaration3 committed to “accelerate implementation by States
parties of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,…”
This funding will help the FCTC secretariat to scale up work already undertaken on joint
needs assessment, capacity building and enhancing international cooperation.
The funding comes from the EU’s “Investing in People” programme which pursues a
broad approach to development and poverty reduction in partner countries as part of its
efforts to reach the UN’s Millennium Development goals. This extra-budgetary
contribution to the FCTC Secretariat, which will run over three years, is additional to the
payments of the EU and the individual EU Member States in support of WHO in general
and the FCTC in particular.
The details of this action under the “Investing in People” programme can be seen under:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/ap/aap/2011_en.htm