A scholarship programme supporting the participation of delegates from low- and middle-income countries in the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) is now open for applications. More than 3,000 delegates are expected to attend the event, which will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE from 17 to 21 March 2015. The world’s largest tobacco control conference, WCTOH is held every three years and will focus in 2015 on the theme of “Tobacco control and non-communicable diseases (NCDs)”.
The conference theme highlights the fact that tobacco use is a serious risk factor for the four major groups of NCDs: cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes. Some 36 million people die of these diseases each year with 80% of these deaths now in low- and middle-income countries.
As a result, organisers are seeking to encourage greater participation from these heavily affected countries by offering scholarships to individuals with financial need who have been approved to present their research on tobacco control or a related field or who have been invited as a chair or speaker for a session of the scientific programme. Both partial and full scholarships are available.
The deadline for submitting a scholarship application for approved abstract authors is Tuesday, 30 September 2014; for chairs and speakers, the deadline is Friday, 24 October 2014. Applicants will be notified of their status by the end of January 2015. For further information on eligibility and guidelines for submission visit www.wctoh.org.
Registration for the conference will open in late September, with an early-bird discount offered until 3 December.
For details and updates, please visit the conference website at www.wctoh.org