The Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health has been designated a collaborating
center of the Pan American Health Organization and World
Health Organization in supporting global efforts to reduce
tobacco use. The IGTC is one of three tobacco control
surveillance and evaluation collaborating centers in the
United States, joining the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the University of California,
San Francisco Center for Tobacco Control Research and
Education.
The IGTC will promote research, surveillance,
evaluation and training in support of a progressive and
aggressive policy development agenda; these activities play
a critical role in building and maintaining strong tobacco
control programs. The IGTC has been active in all of these
areas throughout the world. It participated in the 1996
national smoking survey in China and recently conducted an
assessment of second-hand smoke exposure across Latin
America.
"The IGTC was selected to be a collaborating center as
a result of its commitment to combating the global tobacco
epidemic," said Jonathan Samet, director of the IGTC and
chair of the Bloomberg School's
Department of Epidemiology. "As part of the school and
the Department of Epidemiology, we have an extensive
network of partnerships and collaborations that have been
established by our faculty. The institute is in a position
to offer real and lasting approaches to control and prevent
tobacco-related death and disease."
Samet, an international authority on tobacco's effects
on health, explained that the research of the institute is
imperative. "Knowing the scale of a country's tobacco
epidemic, as well as the machinations of tobacco companies,
can give researchers the evidence needed to convince
governments to adopt new policies and intervention
programs," he said.
Global debates over public smoking, advertising bans
and tobacco taxes can be clouded by industry influence,
politics and cultural beliefs. Yet the science on the
health effects of tobacco has never been clearer. By 2030,
health experts estimate that deaths from tobacco will
surpass those from any other cause.
Frances Stillman, co-director of the institute and an
associate research professor in the Department of
Epidemiology, said, "Since the institute's inception six
years ago, we've been working with PAHO and WHO on various
tobacco-related issues. This designation is a natural
extension of our current working relationship. All three
organizations — our institute, PAHO and WHO —
share a common goal of stopping tobacco use in developing
countries and widening controls to fight tobacco companies
who are promoting this habit to unsuspecting people. This
designation will strengthen the ongoing research we have in
about 20 countries around the world."
The institute will continue to serve as an educational
resource on tobacco-related topics, offering courses and
training workshops and undertaking tobacco control policy
and intervention projects.
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