Shrestha, Nepal's Secretary for Health and Population, remarked that "All political leaders want to control tobacco. We have strong political will. Health minister is himself inspecting the market to check illicit tobacco trade - few days back his team had seized 18 tonnes of illegal tobacco. There is solid commitment from the government. Very few country delegations are led by their health secretary at the Sixth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC. Nepalese delegation is led by its Health Secretary that shows a high level commitment."
Shrestha also pointed out the positive partnership of the government with civil society and appreciated international partners' contributions such as International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) in advancing public health measures country-wide.
LOOKING AHEAD
45th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Barcelona, Spain and 16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (16th WCTOH) are two major meetings ahead of us that will aim to strengthen implementation of tobacco control globally. These events will provide more opportunities for governments, civil society and other stakeholders to share their experiences of not only how tobacco industry is not letting them progress fast enough in rolling out life-saving tobacco control measures, but also how are they using WHO FCTC Article 5.3 and other such mechanisms to check the industry interference and advance public health. Nepal is certainly leading the fight to check industry interference in public health policy in the South Asian region and has lessons to share with other countries globally.
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