The 5th National Workshop on Tobacco Control, held in JIPMER from 26th August to 30th August 2019, was attended by IPH researchers, Riddhi Dsouza, Vivek Dsouza, and Adhip Amin. Three major themes were addressed in the Workshop. First, the history and politics of WHO’s Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) where India is a signatory. The architecture, implementation, and consequences on tobacco consumption, of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA) — and the relationship between the FCTC and COTPA. Second, the basic principles of epidemiology in relation to tobacco use was covered. Furthermore on quantitative analysis, the second round of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), in the context of India, was discussed. Third, the behavioral and psychological component of tobacco addiction — and strategies for tobacco cessation — was also reviewed.
The director at IPH, Dr. Upendra Bhojani, delivered a lecture on the endgame strategies for tobacco control; what are the levers, mechanisms, and ideas, that can enable policy and law to generate a tobacco free generation. The point was also made that values are important in tobacco policy — how one approaches tobacco control will differ regarding a person’s moral and political philosophy — which we must acknowledge and respect.
After completing a little over 13 years our founding Director Dr. N Devadasan has moved on from IPH. The conversation of transition had begun at IPH much in advance of this event as Deva also had a strong resolve that he did not want IPH to be known only by him and hence systematically groomed the next line of leadership over the past few years. The journey of Deva and Roopa is a fascinating one and a blog does capture some of the initial years of his contribution to public health. Their story from CMC Vellore to Gudalur to Delhi and then to Bangalore to create IPH is one of great resolve and extremely inspiring to say the least. IPH since its inception has served as a platform for young enthusiastic public health professionals to contribute to strengthening Indian health systems and striving to make an equitable change in the society by empowering the people through high quality research, skill-based education and policy engagement.
Over the past few years IPH experimented a shared and distributive form of leadership which has took form of a management committee. The shared leadership has successfully worked in building individual and institutional capacities. This platform and legacy are all set to continue and grow under the able leadership of Dr. Upendra Bhojani who has been appointed by the governing board of IPH as the new Director from July 1st, 2019. Upendra is a public health researcher with vast experience in public health research especially in the domain of chronic conditions and public policies and also in management and leadership. In a small event at the institute the staff and associates of IPH thanked and acknowledged the immense contribution of Deva and Roopa to IPH and the field of public health and for making it what it is today and welcomed Upendra to his new role as the Director of IPH. As Deva and the board members echoed they are extremely happy to hand over IPH to very safe hands and look forward to Upendra and the committed team to take IPH to greater heights.
Panelists Dr. Mary Assunta & Dr. Upendra Bhojani. Image credit: SARC-CCT
The University of Colombo works systematically on tobacco control and was established as a tobacco observatory Sri Lanka in 2016. Recently, this observatory was expanded to the South Asia region to create the South Asian Regional Consortium Centre for Combating Tobacco (SARC-CCT).
The
centre organized an inaugural workshop, inviting researchers and advocates for the
launch of the SARC-CCT on 15-18th July 2019, in Colombo. On invitation,
the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru (IPH) was represented & actively participated
in the workshop.
The South
Asian region has some shared history and common challenges of tobacco control
and also offers some unique positive examples (Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India
among others) to the world. This event was a key
gathering of experts, which highlighted the unique insights that SAARC nations can offer in
terms of tobacco control and the importance of close collaboration with other
countries in the region.
Dr. Upendra Bhojani, India Alliance Fellow and Director at IPH, was
invited to participate in a Roundtable discussion hosted by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and World Health Organization, India in Delhi on the 26th July 2019.
The roundtable discussion was attended by subject experts, bureaucrats and
researchers from Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi.
While urbanization offers opportunities for growth and
development, it poses unique challenges for health and health governance. Acknowledging
health as a key component of urban planning and governance by policymakers is
an important step to visualize and translate sustainable urban development into
action. Themes that were broadly discussed over the course of the day include:
The need to strengthen and rationalise existing urban primary health
structures in the context of Ayushman Bharat.
The need for strong financial governance to help minimise
underutilisation of funds.
Lack of effective Monitoring, Surveillance and Accountability systems
among diverse stakeholders.
“Tobacco-free generation” is a proposal wherein children born after a certain year grow up in tobacco free environments, with legislation in place restricting exposure, sale and use of tobacco for that generation. This is potentially a very powerful intervention, that is progressive and strategic in achieving tobacco control. It has been proposed and implemented to various extents in a few countries, including Tasmania and Netherlands. As a strategy it is feasible as it is aimed at overcoming defects with current youth access laws.
Dr. Upendra
Bhojani, India
Alliance Fellow and Director at IPH, published a video as a part of a 2-day
National Consultation by Generation
Saviour Association (GSA), The Union
and Post Graduate Institute
of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER),
Chandigarh on date
that explains his views on this topic. He explains the issue and argues for its
social, economic and national importance, while shedding light on the ethical
issues that can arise in the context of such interventions.
The video has been uploaded to YouTube and is available for viewing here:
The MPOWER package
is a package introduced by WHO, comprising of six measures to assist in country-level
implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. One of the
six components of the MPOWER package is “Offer help to quit tobacco use.”
Often, tobacco
users are aware of the risks, but require support to overcome addiction or dependence
on the substance. It is recommended that support for tobacco cessation should
also lie with health-systems, where programs for tobacco cessation should be
incorporated and embedded into primary health care services, with health care
providers acting as advocates for tobacco control.
Dr. Upendra Bhojani serves as a guide for Rachana Shah (Government Dental College and Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India) on her work on how to integrate tobacco cessation support with the help of health professionals as a part of routine primary care. This project shifts the focus from tobacco cessation centres to healthcare providers as playing an important role in delivering such services.
Rachana Shah’s
doctoral proposal examines the role of oral health professionals (OHP) and the
experiences and expectations of dental patients in the context of tobacco
cessation (TC) services. The protocol of her doctoral study titled “Integrating
tobacco cessation into routine dental practice: protocol for a qualitative
study” was recently published in
BMJ Open, linked here.
