Latest news with #WorldConferenceonTobaccoControl
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Health
- Indian Express
India among 6 countries conferred with Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control
India is among the six countries that received 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control for prioritizing tobacco cessation approaches to reach a significant number of tobacco users in the country. The National Tobacco Control Cell of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, was presented with the award at the World Conference on Tobacco Control held in Dublin, Ireland, on Monday. India was presented the 'O' category award for promoting tobacco cessation. The 'O' is the MPOWER policy package of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that stands for 'Offer help to quit tobacco use.' The awards celebrated several governments and NGOs making progress to reduce tobacco use. Among the other countries that received the award were Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Philippines and Ukraine. The WHO Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report, developed with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, was also launched on the occasion. In India, a whole range of services including tobacco testing labs and mobile cessation measures among others have been set up to reduce tobacco usage in the country. This includes a well established national toll-free quit line, handling around 50,000 calls per month and free cessation support services at primary care facilities and hospitals. Tobacco cessation services are provided at 675 district hospitals, 302 dental institutions, 361 medical institutions and across 607 non-communicable diseases (NCD) clinics, oral health clinics and community health centres. There are four quit lines at NIMHANS, Vallabhbai Patel Chest Centre, New Delhi, Tata Memorial Centre and Borooah Cancer Institute in Guwahati. Between 2007 and 2023, the global average smoking prevalence has reduced from 22.3 per cent to 16.4 per cent, a relative reduction of 26 per cent over 16 years. According to the report, the adult daily smoking prevalence in 2023 in India was at 7 per cent. While experts said that smokeless tobacco was a big concern in India, several steps have been taken to address multiple challenges. 'India has been making consistent efforts to help people quit tobacco through the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP). This includes the establishment of tobacco cessation clinics in various locations (including dental and medical facilities), screening and intervention in primary care at the Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, establishing Cessation and National Tobacco Quitlines, integrating the NTCP with existing health services and national programmes, enacting legislation, providing training and awareness to healthcare providers, as well as public awareness campaigns,' Dr Pratima Murthy, Director and senior professor of Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, who received the award on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told The Indian Express. 'Tobacco free youth campaigns and the TeleManas initiative also represent efforts to address the underlying reasons for initiation of tobacco use. These comprehensive efforts indicate India's commitment to reduce tobacco use and promote public health. It is an absolute honour to receive the award on behalf of the Indian Government,' added Dr Murthy. Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and injuries, presented the award. 'Since Bloomberg Philanthropies started supporting global tobacco control efforts in2007, there has been a sea change in the way countries prevent tobacco use, but there is still a long way to go,' said Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the WHO Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report reveals that the most striking gains have been in graphic health warnings, one of the key measures under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), that make the harms of tobacco impossible to ignore. At the award ceremony, Michael R. Bloomberg also announced a new $20 million Accelerator Fund to help advance progress in countries where tobacco control is stalled. Bloomberg Philanthropies will work with partners to proactively engage governments and NGOs in several low- and middle-income countries that either lack best-practice tobacco control measures or are close to implementing all best-practice measures. Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read More
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Tobacco industry 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes, WHO warns
The World Health Organization has warned the tobacco industry is 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes even as governments target tobacco sales. Governments have been urged to resist industry interference in their tobacco control policies. The World Conference on Tobacco Control, which opened in Dublin on Monday, also heard the war in Ukraine had led to increased e-cigarette use among young people. A WHO report published on Monday found a series of health measures — known as Mpower — now cover more than 6.1 billion people, representing over 75% of the world's population. These include monitoring of tobacco use, offering help to quit, and raising taxes. However, the WHO warned about limited use of taxes, even though this is seen as the single most useful measure in reducing tobacco use. Ireland is one of just 14 countries with total tax on tobacco at or above 75% recorded in every WHO report on this topic since 2008. WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed increased use of these measures, but warned about rising use of e-cigarettes. 'The tobacco and related industries are aggressively targeting young people with e-cigarettes and other new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products,' he said. The evidence is clear: e-cigarettes are harmful, particularly for children and adolescents. We cannot allow a new generation to become dependent on nicotine. Protecting young people from these products must be a top priority. He called on governments to make sure 'tobacco control policies remain robust in the face of industry interference". Tobacco is 'responsible for over seven million deaths annually, as well as disability and long-term suffering from tobacco-related diseases', the report said. Many speakers focused on links between tobacco use and non-communicable disease (NCD) such as cancer or stroke. NCD Alliance policy and advocacy adviser Alison Cox said: 'Every second, 28 people lose their lives to an NCD and of those, 25 live in low- or middle-income countries' today. These illnesses, including those caused by tobacco use, cost global economies trillions of euro every year, she pointed out. 'There are industries out there — tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods, fossil fuels driving air pollution — who are making massive profit, and they're externalising their costs onto the rest of the economy,' she warned. A speaker from Ukraine described how young people were vaping more now in parallel with increased tobacco use since the all-out Russian invasion in 2022. Andrii Skipalskyi, unit lead for NCD management at the WHO Ukraine country office, said work on public health had continued despite the pressures of the war. 'We fight and we continue reforms, we can't abandon it,' he said. He described how data shows conflict-related problems, including young people being displaced from their homes, is 'clearly associated' with use of e-cigarettes and tobacco products in parallel. 'We can see that in the adult population we don't observe any increase in smoking prevalence despite the war and hard economic and socio-economic circumstances,' he said. However, a trend for downward use among young people is changing, he explained. He described this as 'a mixed picture', saying they can now see 'a slight increase' in use of products such as heated tobacco and e-cigarettes. Their data showed this is linked to poly-use — people using tobacco products and e-cigarettes or heated tobacco. Read More Cork County Council likely to ban smoking and vaping at all its amenity areas
Irish Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Daily Mirror
Taoiseach Micheál Martin vows to come down even harder on sale of vapes
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has vowed that further legislation cracking down on vapes will be introduced to target flavoured and disposable products. He made the comments at the World Conference on Tobacco Control, which is taking place this week at the Dublin Convention Centre. Under plans devised by former health minister Stephen Donnelly, a new licensing system for the retail sale of tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products such as e-cigarettes will be introduced in February 2026. This will enable retail outlets to obtain annual licences to sell these products. Despite Cabinet approving plans in September 2024 to ban disposable vapes and flavours, the Irish Mirror understands there is still no date for the implementation of the plans. A ban on disposable vapes came into effect in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK on June 1. The Taoiseach vowed on Monday that the legislation will be introduced and there will be a further crackdown on the products. Mr Martin said: 'I'm a very strong opponent of vapes and I have been from the beginning. 'There was very little due diligence done in terms of the composition of vapes and in terms of their impact on health. 'It's quite extraordinary that products of that kind got on the market and onto the shelves without any real health and safety analysis. That has always been my position. 'Any measures that reduce or eliminate vapes from the perspective of public health is a good thing. 'Ireland has made significant moves on that front. We will have significant restrictions coming in next February as a result of the legislation passed by the last Government. 'There is further legislation being planned in terms of the sale of disposable, the use of flavours, and I would see this as a continuation of measures that were adopted last year." He added: 'Certainly, I would favour the strongest possible measures against vaping. I spoke to [Former Chief Medical Adviser to the US President] Dr [Anthony] Fauci when he was in Dublin last year, and I spoke to a lot of public health experts. 'A lot of research has been undertaken now highlighting the dangers posed by vapes to the lungs of people and potential health conditions that can arise after use.'
Irish Independent
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
‘I don't approve of them, I don't agree with them' – Taoiseach says new US J1 visa rules around social media ‘excessive'
Mr Martin was speaking ahead of his attendance World Conference on Tobacco Control, when he said he did not approve of the new measures, which will see a requirement for all social media accounts used in the past five years to be public to be vetted by US authorities. The announcement was made by the US today and the changes are effective immediately. Students applying for J1 visas must provide all social media accounts they have used in the past five years and make them public so they can be 'thoroughly' vetted by US authorities. "I believe those measures by the United States are excessive. I don't approve of them. I don't agree with them," Mr martin said. While there was an issue in relation to freedom of speech, Mr Martin said it creates an atmosphere of fear and anxiety. The number of J1 applications are down this year, Mr Martin said. "There is an issue around freedom of speech, but it's more the atmosphere that's created by these measures, the fear and the anxiety that young people will now experience travelling," the Taoiseach said. Though Mr Martin said he understood the importance of security, he believed the newly announced measures went too far. Irish students will have to undergo 'comprehensive and thorough vetting' of their social media, the US Embassy has announced today. 'To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J non-immigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to 'public'. 'Visa applicants are required to list all social media user names or handles of every platform they have used from the last five years on the DS-160 visa application form. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. 'Applicants certify that the information in their visa application is true and correct before they sign and submit. Omitting social media information could lead to visa denial and ineligibility for future visas.' The changes also apply for other exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J non-immigrant classifications. All applicants are asked to list all their social media profiles, and make their accounts publicly accessible. Failure to do so could lead to a visa being rejected. The embassy said it would use all available information in its visa screening to identify those who would be 'inadmissible' to the US, including those who posed a threat to national security. Every visa adjudication is a national security decision US embassy in Dublin In a statement on Monday, it said that a US visa was 'a privilege, not a right'. It said that it was protecting the US by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety, adding: 'Under new guidance, we will conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J non-immigrant classifications. The US Embassy in Dublin will resume scheduling F, M, and J non-immigrant visa applications 'soon'. The embassy added: 'Every visa adjudication is a national security decision. The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests, and that all applicants credibly establish their eligibility for the visa sought, including that they intend to engage in activities consistent with the terms for their admission.'
