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The Star

Inspiring change

My family is the motivation behind my advocacy work. My dad suffered a stroke as a result of smoking, and now he can't move his leg and struggles to speak. With better public policy, others will not have to suffer like our family. My parents are very supportive of me because they are victims of smoking. My dad has decided to quit not just because of the illness, but also because he has heard me speak to international audiences and it made him cry. But what really made me want to deep dive into tobacco control happened nine years ago. My friends and I were arrested for organising a student protest at a tobacco event that was promoting these harmful products to youth. When we got out of jail, there were many activists like us waiting outside and they said, 'We will back you up. If you are not allowed home, we too will not go home.' That crucial moment led me here. Manik Marganamahendra Executive director Indonesian Youth Council for Tactical Changes (IYCTC), Jakarta, Indonesia Manik has played a pivotal role in campaigns such as #SaveOurSurroundings (SOS), which raises awareness about the wide-ranging impact of tobacco, including its economic, human rights, and environmental consequences. In just one year, the SOS Movement has successfully engaged with five regional government offices, five national ministries, and more than 10 local and national legislative bodies in support of stronger tobacco control policies. For his decade-long contributions in tobacco control advocacy, Manik was recently named a Global Young Ambassador of the Year by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids – a recognition of his leadership on the international stage. I started on this path eight years ago. My father was a chain smoker for decades. Now, he is facing serious health complications and my mother, who never puffed on a single cigarette, had to battle breast cancer after years of exposure to second-hand smoke. As a basketball coach, I've watched with growing concern as e-cigarettes make their way into the hands of my young charges. Disguised in sleek packaging and marketed as cool, these vapes are falsely said to be harmless. What's worse, some of them believe it. To see kids as young as 13 having access to these devices is frustrating and alarming. I refuse to watch another generation be dragged into a cycle of addiction, illness and environmental harm caused by tobacco. Gene Navarra Gesite Jr. Project coordinator Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), Philippines Gesite is an international affairs professional with over eight years of experience in policy analysis, project development and management, research, and international relations. At GGTC, he oversees project implementation and supports campaign and advocacy efforts to promote the universal adoption and enforcement of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Gesite also serves as the coordinator of the Global Youth Voices (GYV), a movement that unites global, regional and local youth organisations in over 130 countries, to make the industry pay for the harms caused by tobacco to the planet and its people. His work focuses on coalition-building, strategic partnerships, and global campaigns that empower youth advocacy, capacity-building, and awareness-raising initiatives. Like many young people, I got involved in fighting tobacco because it was harming those I cared about. It started when the same friends I had swum lap after lap with in the pool began vaping flavoured e-cigarettes between practices. I remember watching them disappear into bathrooms that had become vape lounges. Out of concern, I confided in my seventh-grade health teacher, who soon taught me about the dangers of these devices. Our conversation turned my protective instinct into purpose. I set out on a mission to create change through collective learning and activism, and helped build the first tobacco prevention programmes at my middle and high schools. Agamroop Kaur Youth ambassador Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Appointed by former California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee, the student of cognitive science and global health at University of California, Los Angeles, began her tobacco control advocacy at age 12, creating prevention programmes at her school. The 2022 Barrie Fiske National Youth Advocate of the Year started her tobacco control advocacy so that her younger siblings, cousins and the students who come after her can learn and grow in a safe environment. She produced the award-winning documentary 'Big Tobacco, Bigger Epidemic', which examines corporate influence and regulatory failures behind the US youth e-cigarette crisis, and has served on the board of directors of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.