On International Women’s Day 2022, we celebrate all of the inspirational women at The Union, as we stand against inequality.
The Union is a diverse organisation, with female staff, consultants and members across the world in a variety of roles and fields. Today we shine the spotlight on just a few of these incredible women.
Dr Omara Dogar
Chair of the Tobacco Control Membership Section
What inspired you to become a global public health scientist?
I trained as a medical doctor and an epidemiologist. Having been involved in Tuberculosis (TB) care in Pakistan early in my career got me interested in infectious disease control. It did not take me long to make the connection that tobacco use had with most diseases, but particularly with TB, the infection rates for which doubles in smokers and the risk of dying is twice compared to non-smokers.
Moreover, 4-in-5 smokers worldwide, live in economically developing countries that are facing huge TB and HIV disease burden. Hence, my interest in promoting smoking cessation for integration in health services in these countries, particularly within TB and HIV care.
I feel that as a researcher, I can dig deeper into the causes of disparities and identify critical links between disease and lifestyle risk factors such as tobacco use, contributing meaningfully to the evidence-base on the most effective strategies for tobacco cessation that work for economically disadvantaged populations.
What would you say to encourage others to get involved in research?
To me research is, broadly speaking, involved in all aspects of public health. Whether you are at the grass roots level, working as a practitioner or community volunteer, a programme manager, or an academic. It is the scientific inquiry into any phenomenon that requires understanding, to enable critical change, for a positive outcome in the population. We need more inquisitive minds, who like to question the status quo and are eager to gain knowledge for positive change, if we are to eliminate tobacco and other such public health threats from the world.
What is your role at The Union and what does it entail?
My role as Chair of the Tobacco Control membership section at The Union is to represent the membership and to lead the section activities, annual meetings, working groups, webinars and newsletters. A vice chair, a programme officer and a scientific liaison officer support this role.
Together we have organised several webinars since 2020 on hot topics of Global Tobacco Control importance, released newsletters highlighting valuable work by our members to curb tobacco use and initiated communication channels for the member to engage with The Union and encourage discussions on the quickly changing landscape of tobacco control globally.
To this effect, we now have an active Facebook group for the section members with increasing membership. I actively take part in postgraduate courses, workshops and talks at the Union World Conference, providing an opportunity to engage with decision-makers, practitioners and programme managers from low- and- middle- income countries as well as world-class academics.
As Chair of the Tobacco Control section at The Union, I am well positioned to help influence the Global Tobacco Control agenda. Because of this role, I was also involved in organising the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) in 2018.