PHA-Exchange> WHO Calls for a Concerted Effort Against Tobacco

[Claudio]

> WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
> REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC
> Press Release
> WHO Western Pacific Region Public Information Unit, Tel: (63 2) 528 9991;
Email: PIO_Unit at wpro.who.int
>
> WHO Calls for a Concerted Effort Against Tobacco
>
> The Regional Committee for the Western Pacific*, the World
> Health Organization's governing body in the Region, today
> called for a coalition of countries in the Region to
> spearhead an offensive against tobacco.
>
> The Regional Committee, currently meeting in Manila to
> review WHO's work in the Region, urged Member States to sign
> the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
> (FCTC) and to ratify it as soon as possible after signature
> to ensure its entry into force.
>
> The Framework Convention, which was adopted by the World
> Health Assembly in May 2003, provides a coordinated global
> strategy to curb diseases and deaths caused by tobacco.
>
> The coalition will seek political commitment by countries in
> the Region to tobacco control by ensuring the speedy
> ratification of the Framework Convention.
>
> The Framework Convention requires countries to impose
> restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and
> promotion, to establish new labelling and clean indoor-air
> controls and to strengthen legislation to clamp down on
> tobacco smuggling.
>
> Tobacco now kills some 5 million people each year, with
> about 1 million of these deaths in the Western Pacific
> Region.  The global death toll could double to 10 million by
> 2020 if countries do not implement the measures of the
> Framework Convention, WHO warned.
>
> To bring the Framework Convention into force, 40 countries
> need to ratify the it.  Once ratified, the Framework
> Convention becomes law for those countries and for other
> countries that become contracting parties to it.
>
> To date, five countries in the Region have signed the
> Convention.  They are the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, New
> Zealand, Palau and the Republic of Korea.
>
> WHO's Regional Committee proposed to allow proxy signing of
> the Convention, which would enable one country to authorize
> another to sign the Framework Convention on its behalf. This
> will enable a country to be a signatory to the Convention
> without having to send a representative to the United
> Nations headquarters in New York to sign. * "The success of
> the Framework Convention will depend almost entirely on
> countries' ability to implement and enforce its provisions,"
> said Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director for the Western
> Pacific. "Moreover, multisectoral and multinational
> involvement is crucial to effective tobacco control." _____
>
> For more information, please contact Mr Peter Cordingley,
> Public Information Officer
> email: PIO-Unit at wpro.who.int.
>
> *The 37 countries and areas comprising the WHO Western
> Pacific Region are: American Samoa, Australia, Brunei
> Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, French
> Polynesia, Guam, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Kiribati, Lao
> People's Democratic Republic, Macao (China), Malaysia,
> Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia,
> Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Mariana
> Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pitcairn
> Islands, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon
> Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Viet Nam and
> Wallis and Futuna.
>