The Union and CTFK co-manage the Bloomberg Tobacco Control Grants Programme, as partners in the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (BI). During his visit, the Mayor also attended a meeting with the grants team, which assembled in Paris to select recipients for Round 14 tobacco control grants.
The BI grants programme has awarded 556 grants to government ministries and agencies, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations and universities in 61 countries. The funding supports projects that develop and deliver high-impact, evidence-based tobacco control interventions, with a focus on assisting the 14 countries that have the highest rate of tobacco use.
Results of this programme include successful support for
• 34 countries to implement national smokefree legislation, providing protection from second-hand smoke to over 1.6 billion people
• 31 countries to implement pictorial pack warnings about the dangers of tobacco reaching over 2.7 billion people
• 24 countries to implement tobacco advertising bans protecting nearly 1 billion people from tobacco marketing
• 12 countries to pass effective tobacco taxes.
The model used for the grants programme was based on The Union's innovative FIDELIS TB project with the addition of a "rapid response mechanism" that was featured in the New York Times when the tobacco industry sued Uruguay over its tobacco control legislation. This model has also been adopted by Bloomberg Philanthropies for their international road safety initiative, their second largest initiative.
"The Union is honoured to be a partner in the Bloomberg Initiative, which has had an enormous impact on one of our most critical public health problems – the pandemic of diseases caused by tobacco use which cause six million preventable deaths each year', said Mr Castro.
The Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, launched in 2007, has been supported by more than US$600 million in gifts from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The goal of the Initiative is to reduce the global demand for tobacco through a comprehensive, proven approach that combines policy change with increased public awareness. Key strategies include creating smokefree public places, banning tobacco advertising, increasing tax on tobacco products and requiring graphic pack warnings.
Learn more about tobacco control and The Union: www.tobaccofreeunion.org
Learn more about Bloomberg Philanthropies: www.bloomberg.org