CDC Administrative Fee: Promoting the Sharing of Best Practices in Tobacco Control through Programmatic Support to the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) Convenings in 2021 and 2022

National Cancer Institute, Frederick MD

Investigators

Abstract

This multi-year agreement describes an agreement between the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide funds to support the work of the Secretariat for the 2021 World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) Virtual Summit and the 18th WCTOH in 2022 (collectively referred to in the document as the WCTOH). The Secretariat is currently the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). The WCTOH is the leading global event for sharing best practices in tobacco control from more than 100 countries. Its purpose is to inspire an expected 2,500 delegates across the two events into transforming latest research into actions for policy change. The WCTOH conference usually takes place every three years in a different global region and following a successful bid by the Irish Department of Health, the conference will be held for the first time in its history in Ireland (Dublin) in March 2022. The timing of this conference is delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a decision was made to add a 2021 Virtual Summit as an added element to sustain progress made since the last conference in 2018, and to offer additional scientific content in advance of the upcoming WCTOH. The objective of the WCTOH is to bring together scientists, researchers, scholars, experts and leaders from all over the world to share their experiences and research results on all aspects of tobacco control. It also will provide an interdisciplinary platform for policy makers, researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent health data trends, innovations and emerging concerns as well as challenges and solutions for increasing priority for tobacco control and countering industry interference in health and economic policies. The provision of multi-year funds (FY20/FY21) under this agreement is to contribute to the planning efforts for the collective events of the WCTOH conference, which will occur in May 2021 and March 2022, respectively. The funds are to cover such tasks as convening the local host committee with Secretariat planners; development of scientific content and materials; hosting of the conference website and 2021 virtual meeting platform; facilitating participation by low- and middle-income countries in both events, evaluation of the conference; and, dissemination of key scientific highlights from the conference. The mission of the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) at the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) is to develop, conduct, and support strategic efforts to protect the public?s health from the harmful effects of tobacco use. As such, OSH and the Global Tobacco Control Branch (GTCB) have many insights and experiences which can be shared to enhance global tobacco control capacity. A major contribution in enhancing tobacco control is the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS), which is the global standard to systematically monitor adult and youth tobacco use and track key tobacco control indicators using a consistent and standard protocol across countries. The data assists countries to track World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) implementation and technical components of the WHO MPOWER package, and to enhance country-level capacity to design, implement and evaluate tobacco control programs. Sponsoring various virtual and in-person symposia, courses, and workshops during both elements of the WCTOH will allow OSH and GTCB to share lessons learned from various aspects of GTSS, as well as other OSH activities, such as hard-hitting media campaigns, methods for estimating smoking-attributable mortality in low- and middle-income countries, how to translate data to policy action, and what you need to know about the new frontier of electronic nicotine delivery systems.