New publication
The WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Training and Education/Department of Primary Care and Public Health are pleased to announce a new publication in Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal.
The article, titled Tobacco control efforts in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: achievements and challenges, examines the indices of national commitment to public health protection and curbing the smoking epidemic in the GCC countries, and uses the criteria defined by the MPOWER evidence based indicators to evaluate and compare the level of political adherence, as well as the degree of importance that the governments attach to the subject matter.
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ABSTRACT This paper reports a review into the current state of tobacco use, governance and national commitment for control, and current intervention frameworks in place to reduce the use of tobacco among the populations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and Yemen. It further reviews structured policy-oriented interventions (in line with the MPOWER package of 6 evidence-based tobacco control measures) that represent government actions to strengthen, implement and manage tobacco control programmes and to address the growing epidemic of tobacco use. Our findings show that tobacco control in the GCC countries has witnessed real progress over the past decades. These are still early days but they indicate steps in the right direction. Future investment in implementation and enforcement of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, production of robust tobacco control legislation and the establishment of universally available tobacco cessation services are essential to sustain and strengthen tobacco control in the GCC region.