14^th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, Mumbai, India: An Update

By Allison Rose

On March 8-12, 2009, one of the world’s largest public health events, the 14^th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH), took place in Mumbai, India.  India is the world’s largest democracy with a fascinating multicultural and multilingual heritage.  This was the first time in 12 years that the triennial conference took place in a developing nation, and the first time ever to take place in a country that ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).  Most recent conferences were held in the United States and Finland.[1]

The conference was hosted by Salaam Bombay Foundation; Healis, Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health; and Action Council against Tobacco - India, and supported by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; the Government of Maharashtra; the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and a number of other additional sponsors. The conference provided a multidisciplinary forum for tobacco control advocates, educators, policy-makers, civil society members, and researchers to share knowledge and experiences and to build a strong transnational network to advance tobacco control across the globe.  Unlike previous conferences, more than 50 percent of the 2,089 delegates to the 14^th WTCOH were from developing countries, including 51 different low- and middle-income countries.  Thus the conference provided valuable networking opportunities, and allowed issues pertaining to poorer regions of the world to be front and center – particularly the increasingly deadly burden of tobacco consumption in the developing world. 

Holi, one of the most celebrated Hindu holidays, coincided with the fourth day of the conference.  Known as the Festival of Colors (during which people throw colored powder and water at each other), the holiday honors the triumph of good over evil.  With the same spirit of “triumph of good over evil,” the field of tobacco control will need to unite against the tobacco industry’s rapidly shifting reach from the Western world to the developing world.  Using similar targeted product development and marketing practices from the Western nations, the industry is targeting population segments with low rates of use, particularly young people and women.  According to the World Health Organization, 5.4 million people worldwide will die from tobacco-related disease this year and by 2030, deaths are expected to be over 8 million.  Most critically, 80 percent of tobacco-related deaths from the tobacco epidemic are likely to occur in developing countries like India and China, the world’s largest producers and consumers of tobacco products.

In total, there were 23 pre-conference workshops and ancillary meetings and more than 125 scientific sessions which covered the vast array of issues in the ever-evolving landscape of tobacco control.  One pre-conference workshop highlighted the growing involvement of youth advocacy movements to increase awareness and to empower young people from around the world to take an active leadership role in advocating against tobacco.  The two-day workshop, Global Youth Meet on Tobacco Control, was sponsored by Salaam Bombay Foundation in collaboration with HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth).  During the conference, youth from the Salaam Bombay Foundation continued to show their passionate commitment to a tobacco-free world by holding a rally and performing some of their anti-tobacco street plays.

Conference organizers also honored and recognized leaders in the fight against tobacco with two awards ceremonies, the Bloomberg Awards for Global Tobacco Control, sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Luther Terry Awards, hosted by the American Cancer Society.

The conference closing ceremony of music, dance, color and vibration echoed the sense of hope that began the conference.  India’s Dr. K. Srinath Reddy (one of the 2009 Luther Terry Awardees) delivered the closing address in which he noted the significance of having the conference in his home country, and the Conference Declarations Committee presented the Declarations document, created from consultations with hundreds of conference participants that serves as the legacy of the conference and includes 11 recommendations for global tobacco control (for more info: http://www.14wctoh.org/declarations.asp).

Also in closing, representatives from Singapore announced that their country would be proud to host the 15th WCTOH in 2012.