scholarly journals Exploration of Policy Makers’ Views on the Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the Gambia: A Qualitative Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 1652-1659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isatou K Jallow ◽  
John Britton ◽  
Tessa Langley

Abstract Background The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the first international health treaty and has now been ratified by 181 countries. However, there are concerns that in many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries, FCTC legislations and implementation are weak. In this study, we report a qualitative study undertaken to assess policy makers’ awareness of the FCTC and national tobacco control policies, and assessed the achievements and challenges to the implementation of the FCTC in the Gambia. Methods The study involved semi-structured one-to-one interviews with 28 members of the National Tobacco Control Committee in the Gambia, which is responsible for formulating tobacco control policies and making recommendations for tobacco control. We used the Framework method and NVivo11 software for data analysis. Results Our findings demonstrate that the Gambia has made modest progress in tobacco control before and since ratification of the FCTC, particularly in the areas of policy formulation, bans on tobacco advertising and promotion, smoke-free laws, and tobacco taxation. Although several pieces of tobacco control legislation exist, enforcement and implementation remain a major challenge. We found that policy makers’ awareness of polices covered in the FCTC was limited. Conclusion Our findings highlight several challenges to the FCTC implementation and the need to step up efforts that will help to accomplish the obligations of the FCTC. To achieve the obligations of the FCTC, the Gambia should develop specific public awareness interventions, establish cessation services, mobilize adequate resources for tobacco control and strengthen tobacco surveillance and research.

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1202-1209
Author(s):  
Teresa Leão ◽  
Julian Perelman ◽  
Luke Clancy ◽  
Martin Mlinarić ◽  
Jaana M Kinnunen ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Economic evaluations of tobacco control policies targeting adolescents are scarce. Few take into account real-world, large-scale implementation costs; few compare cost-effectiveness of different policies across different countries. We assessed the cost-effectiveness of five tobacco control policies (nonschool bans, including bans on sales to minors, bans on smoking in public places, bans on advertising at points-of-sale, school smoke-free bans, and school education programs), implemented in 2016 in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Portugal. Methods Cost-effectiveness estimates were calculated per country and per policy, from the State perspective. Costs were collected by combining quantitative questionnaires with semi-structured interviews on how policies were implemented in each setting, in real practice. Short-term effectiveness was based on the literature, and long-term effectiveness was modeled using the DYNAMO-HIA tool. Discount rates of 3.5% were used for costs and effectiveness. Sensitivity analyses considered 1%–50% short-term effectiveness estimates, highest cost estimates, and undiscounted effectiveness. Findings Nonschool bans cost up to €253.23 per healthy life year, school smoking bans up to €91.87 per healthy life year, and school education programs up to €481.35 per healthy life year. Cost-effectiveness depended on the costs of implementation, short-term effectiveness, initial smoking rates, dimension of the target population, and weight of smoking in overall mortality and morbidity. Conclusions All five policies were highly cost-effective in all countries according to the World Health Organization thresholds for public health interventions. Cost-effectiveness was preserved even when using the highest costs and most conservative effectiveness estimates. Implications Economic evaluations using real-world data on tobacco control policies implemented at a large scale are scarce, especially considering nonschool bans targeting adolescents. We assessed the cost-effectiveness of five tobacco control policies implemented in 2016 in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Portugal. This study shows that all five policies were highly cost-effective considering the World Health Organization threshold, even when considering the highest costs and most conservative effectiveness estimates.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 175s-175s
Author(s):  
P. Suuna

Background and context: There are several individuals or groups who have high public profiles and can reach out easily to different audiences. These were mobilized as champions and they helped spread the word on the TC Act hence pushing for its implementation. The main aim was to equip them with the relevant information and understanding of the TC Act. These are important because they make or influence decisions on what goes on in the respective media houses. It is important that they appreciate reasons for supporting the implementation of the TC Act. Aim: Engage media managers and TC champions to understand the TC law provisions and support efforts to publicize it. This will be through one-on-one meetings with editors, producers and talk show anchors as well as facilitating TC champion activities Strategy/Tactics: This was achieved through one on one meetings and media champions community excursions. Program/Policy process: UHCA has for the last three years has been at the forefront of engaging the media to advocate and create public awareness and support for the tobacco control agenda in Uganda and the TC Bill in particular. We have equipped and facilitated monthly interactive dialogues on TC, equipped and deployed media fellows and authored resources and tools for TC communication. We are part of the Tripartite Consortium that won the bid advertised by the World Health Organization to host the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA), which is championing efforts to put in place policies and laws as well as support implementation of existing legislation on tobacco control in five African countries. Outcomes: At least 20 editors, producers and media managers informed on the key provisions of the TC law through 10 one-on-one meetings At least two champions (groups or individuals) actively engaged in TC law awareness and promotion activities At least four talk-shows What was learned: Engaging the information gatekeepers (editors and producers) as well as influential persons in the public is one of the ways to make tobacco control popular among the local community.


Author(s):  
Juan Carballo ◽  
Gianella Severini ◽  
Luciana Severini

Frente al fuerte impacto del tabaquismo en la salud pública, la obligación de los Estados de proteger el derecho humano a la salud exige la implementación de ciertas medidas de control de tabaco. En el último tiempo, altos tribunales de la región ratificaron la necesidad de avanzar en estas medidas, marcando la fuerte conexión entre los derechos humanos y las políticas de control de tabaco como mecanismo de protección de la salud y reconociendo el importante rol del Convenio Marco para el Control de Tabaco de la Organización Mundial de la Salud.   Taking into account tobacco epidemic’s impact on public health, States’ obligations to protect the right to health call for the implementation of certain tobacco control policies. In recent times, high courts from Latin America ratified the need to advance on these policies, highlighting the strong link between human rights and tobacco control policies as mechanisms for the protection of health and stressing the key role of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e050859
Author(s):  
Pragati Bhaskar Hebbar ◽  
Vivek Dsouza ◽  
Upendra Bhojani ◽  
Onno CP van Schayck ◽  
Giridhara R Babu ◽  
...  

IntroductionThere are ongoing policies and programs to reduce tobacco use and minimise the associated health burden in India. However, there are several challenges in practice leading to different outcomes across Indian states. Inadequate understanding of how national tobacco control policies achieve their results under varied circumstances obstruct the implementation and scaling up of effective strategies. This study is a realist evaluation using largely qualitative methods to understand the implementation process of India’s tobacco control policies. It will do so by evaluating India’s Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and the National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP). The study aims to examine how, why, for whom and under which circumstances COTPA and NTCP are implemented in India.Methods and analysisA realist synthesis on implementation of tobacco control policies in low-income and middle-income countries is conducted. This is followed by qualitative data collection and analysis in three Indian states selected based on data from two rounds of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey. The study comprises of three steps (1): development of initial programme theories, (2) testing and refinement of initial programme theories and (3) testing and validation of refined programme theories. We will interview policy-makers, programme managers and implementers to identify facilitators and barriers of implementation. The purpose is to identify context-specific evidence-based strategies to gain insights into the implementation process of COTPA and NTCP. Further we aim to contribute to tobacco control research by establishing communities of practice to engage with cross-cutting issues.Ethics and disseminationThe Institutional Ethics Committee, at the Institute of Public Health (Bengaluru), has approved the protocol. Written informed consent forms will be obtained from all the participants. Dissemination has been planned for researchers, policy-makers and implementers as well as the public through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentation, webinars and social media updates.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020191541.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-243
Author(s):  
Luisa S. Flor ◽  
Marissa B. Reitsma ◽  
Vinay Gupta ◽  
Marie Ng ◽  
Emmanuela Gakidou

AbstractSubstantial global effort has been devoted to curtailing the tobacco epidemic over the past two decades, especially after the adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control1 by the World Health Organization in 2003. In 2015, in recognition of the burden resulting from tobacco use, strengthened tobacco control was included as a global development target in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development2. Here we show that comprehensive tobacco control policies—including smoking bans, health warnings, advertising bans and tobacco taxes—are effective in reducing smoking prevalence; amplified positive effects are seen when these policies are implemented simultaneously within a given country. We find that if all 155 countries included in our counterfactual analysis had adopted smoking bans, health warnings and advertising bans at the strictest level and raised cigarette prices to at least 7.73 international dollars in 2009, there would have been about 100 million fewer smokers in the world in 2017. These findings highlight the urgent need for countries to move toward an accelerated implementation of a set of strong tobacco control practices, thus curbing the burden of smoking-attributable diseases and deaths.


Author(s):  
Francisco-Javier Prado-Galbarro ◽  
Amy H. Auchincloss ◽  
Carolina Pérez-Ferrer ◽  
Sharon Sanchez-Franco ◽  
Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez

Our objective was to describe the prevalence and changes in tobacco use and tobacco control policies in Latin American countries and cities before and after ratification of the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Country-level tobacco policy data came from reports on the global tobacco epidemic (World Health Organization, 2007–2014). Global Youth Tobacco Survey data, 2000–2011, came from six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru), 31 cities and 132,065 students. Pre- and post-FCTC prevalence and relative changes were estimated. All countries showed improvements in tobacco control policies but Mexico and Peru showed the smallest improvements. In general, adolescents reduced their tobacco use, reported less exposure to smoking at home, more tobacco education, and more retailer refusals to sell them cigarettes. Adolescents reported smaller reductions in secondhand smoke exposure outside the home and no change in exposure to tobacco media/promotions. Pre-FCTC prevalence and relative changes during the post-FCTC period were more heterogeneous across cities than across countries. Despite overall improvements in tobacco policies and the decline in exposure to tobacco, policies related to media/promotions and secondhand smoke need strengthening. There was wide variation in adolescent exposure to tobacco between cities (within countries), which suggested major heterogeneity of policy implementation at the local level.


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