Press release
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly welcomes the opening of registration for the upcoming Leadership Summit on Tobacco Control
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
The Leadership Summit on Tobacco Control will be inaugurated with keynote speeches from the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, Mr Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Guy Marks, President of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
Minister Donnelly will address the Opening Plenary of the Summit.
The Summit is being organised by the secretariat of the 18th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) which was due to take place in Dublin, Ireland, in March 2021 but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has now been postponed until 2023 in the same city. The Leadership Summit will take place on the eve of the 52nd Union World Conference on Lung Health taking place virtually 19-22 October. Media registration for the summit is now open.
Minister Donnelly said:
“We are obviously disappointed that the WCTOH is not coming to Ireland next year as planned. We can wait until 2023 to meet in Dublin but the conversation on finding solutions to the tobacco epidemic cannot wait. The COVID-19 pandemic brings new urgency to combatting the tobacco epidemic. The Irish Government is very proud to be leading on this important event."
Worldwide, tobacco use kills 8 million people every year – including 65,000 children who die from illnesses caused by second-hand smoke.
Dr Tedros commented:
“If tobacco was a virus, its global impact would be called a pandemic and countries would martial the same urgency and resources to defeat it as they have for COVID-19. We know that tobacco kills and increases the risk for a wide range of diseases, including severe COVID-19, which is why WHO has launched the year-long campaign to encourage and support 100 million tobacco users to quit.
“We call on all countries to support this effort by accelerating implementation of proven cessation tools through the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control."
The Summit will focus conversations on the changing landscape of tobacco, the emergence of new nicotine and tobacco products like e-cigarettes, and the tobacco industry’s attempt to re-brand itself as part of the solution to the tobacco epidemic – whilst continuing to aggressively market its traditional products in lower- and middle-income countries, where 80 percent of tobacco-caused deaths occur. The programme will also focus on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on tobacco control, human rights and health financing.
Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP and WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries said:
“With so many lives at stake, this first-ever Summit comes at a critical time for global leaders in tobacco control. We face a number of urgent, overlapping challenges – as COVID-19 continues to pose a deadly threat to respiratory health, as tobacco companies try to exploit the pandemic to burnish their images, and as low- and middle-income countries confront the growing burden of tobacco-related diseases.
“But, together, we can tackle these challenges – and continue to make life-saving progress with our partners in the fight against tobacco, worldwide."
The Leadership Summit will feature 4 key plenary sessions around several key themes:
Professor Harry Lando, of the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota, U.S. and Chair of the WCTOH Organising Committee said:
“It is vital then that we leverage the Leadership Summit to remain focused on our goal to implement evidence-based policies set out in the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and end the tobacco epidemic."
Guy Marks, Interim Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). The Union is the convenor of the WCTOH Secretariat added:
“We encourage tobacco control advocates from all backgrounds, working in all sectors, to join and participate in sessions, and we will endeavour to make this event as accessible and affordable as possible."
Media registration is open and free to all accredited media representatives. Registration is transferable to the 52nd Union Conference on Lung Health for journalists wishing to attend that event.
The Union Media Centre: press@theunion.org
Held every 3 years, WCOTH is the world’s premiere international tobacco control conference with some 2000 delegates from 100 countries sharing best practices in tobacco control to turn research into action and policy change.
The conference format will include plenary speakers, symposia, posters, workshops and post-graduate courses on the many aspects of the tobacco epidemic and will highlight the efforts being made to control it through the WHO FCTC and MPOWER.
The Union was founded in 1920 and is the world’s first global health organisation. We are a global leader in ending TB, we fight the tobacco industry, and we solve key problems in treating major diseases. We use science to design the best treatments and policies for the most pressing public health challenges affecting people living in poverty around the world. The Union’s members, staff and consultants operate in more than 140 countries and embody our core values of accountability, independence, quality and solidarity.
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