Research to Reduce Tobacco-Related Inequalities around the World

TReND: Call for Abstracts

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the world, causing more than 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide every year. It is projected that by 2030, 8 million people will prematurely die annually from tobacco use, with 80 percent of these deaths expected to occur in low- and middle-income countries.

The Tobacco Research Network on Disparities (TReND) held a preconference workshop at the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health titled, Research to Reduce Tobacco-Related Inequalities: Worldwide Implications For and Exemplars of Tobacco Control, in Mumbai, India on March 8, 2009. The goals of the workshop were to 1) increase understanding of how systems of social stratification, e.g., gender, class, race, ethnicity, caste, region, etc., are defined in various countries and implications for tobacco control; 2) provide examples of outcomes resulting from tobacco-related inequalities (e.g., illness, mortality, etc.); 3) demonstrate measurement and research design strategies used to address tobacco-related inequalities; and 4) share exemplars of interventions addressing tobacco-related inequalities.

As a follow-up to the workshop, TReND issued an international call for papers to further address the role of social stratification in tobacco-related inequalities.  Interested authors were asked to submit a brief 300-word abstract by Feb. 26, 2010 to Allison Rose at rosea@mail.nih.gov.