About 600 delegates from more than 150 countries are expected to attend the third session of the Conference
of the Parties (COP3) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control (FCTC), hosted by the government of South Africa, next Monday in Durban. The overall objective is to make further and faster progress on the implementation of the FCTC, the first health treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO.
Source: WHO Press release
I took the picture of the Shark Nets billboard walking along the beach, sort of an allegory for tobacco control keeping the tobacco industry sharks at bay...
COP3 will review, as one of its first agenda items, the progress on the negotiations of a protocol on illicit tobacco trade, the first protocol to the treaty, based on the report of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (Article 15 of the Convention).
Key decisions are expected on the following issues:
- The interference of the tobacco industry which is the greatest threat to effective implementation of the Framework Conventio (Article 5.3)
- Packaging and labelling of tobacco products with picture-based health warnings to ensure that the entire society, including the less literate, understands the health messages (Article 11).
- Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (Article 13). Scientific evidence overwhelmingly proves that they increase the prevalence of smoking, raise the incidence of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality, therefore placing a heavy burden on countries to provide necessary medical services.
Discussions on three progress reports are also awaited :
- Alternatives to tobacco growing and how to move towards other forms of sustainable livelihoods (Articles 17 & 18).
- Tobacco dependence and cessation
- And the global progress report of the first 3 years of implementation of the Framework Convention.
Based on recent estimates, tobacco would kill more than 5 million people this year, which is greater than the combined deaths due to TB, HIV/AIDS and malaria. The global tobacco epidemic touches every country. However, its explosive increase in Africa and in developing countries poses a serious threat to the health and welfare of its inhabitants, particularly the most vulnerable: minors and women.
Beyond public health concerns, tobacco consumption raises major social, economic and financial challenges, particularly in illicit tobacco trade, which deprives governments of an estimated US$ 40-50 billion globally every year, through smuggling, illicit manufacturing and counterfeiting.
In February 2005, the WHO FCTC came into force with 40 Member State ratifications. Today, with 160 of them having ratified it, it is one of the most widely embraced treaties in UN history.
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