It is widely accepted that tobacco a threat to public health security. Anti-tobacco norms are intensively campaigned by international agencies, such as World Health Organisation (WHO) and non-government organisations ( NGOs ). Indonesia has not signed ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control FCTC ); however, Indonesian legislation obligates government agencies ministries, univer...

Although the application of legal instruments to international health issues — relative to other areas of international concern — is still at a rudimentary stage of development, the transnational health impacts of globalization provide a rationale for the codification and implementation of global norms to deal with shared problems. The experience of promulgating international agreements in othe...

With the dramatic reduction in tobacco use in developed nations, a growing number of public health leaders have called for what they describe as an 'endgame' strategy and the need for new policies to achieve that goal. In moving forward, it is important not to lose sight of the policies that have been the underpinnings of successful tobacco reduction efforts to date, nor should we allow any dis...

INTRODUCTION Thailand ratified the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on November 8, 2004. The WHO FCTC requires all parties to inform all persons of the health consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke. Each party has agreed to develop, implement and evaluate effective tobacco control programs to measure progress in reaching t...

This will not come as a great surprise to many readers, but it turns out that multinational tobacco companies are not generous, kind hearted or benevolent, and that any similarity they bear to boy scouts or fairy godmothers is dangerously misleading. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of the Parties (COP), meeting last November in Durban, reminded us of these truths. ...

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) is a component of Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) under auspices of the Bloomberg philanthropy and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. GATS is a household survey with a standard protocol and its goals are to measure tobacco use, to assess changes due to policy and to facilitate cross country comparison. China is the largest consumer and produc...

Crucial to the success of the proposed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will be an understanding of the political and economic context for tobacco control policies, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries. Policy studies in Thailand and Zimbabwe employed the analytical perspective of political economy and a research strategy that used political mapping, a technique for cha...

Following the development discussion in the last volume on the 'politics of health', Jennifer Prah Ruger argues that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) represents a shift in global health policy that recognizes the importance of addressing health needs on multiple fronts and integrating public policies into a comprehensive set of health improvement strategies. She argues that th...

Much of the research used to support the ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was conducted in high-income countries or in highly controlled environments. Therefore, for the global tobacco control community to make informed decisions that will continue to effectively inform policy implementation, it is critical that the tobacco control community, policy makers,...