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Achieving the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s potential by investing in national capacity

¹ Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
² Tobacco Free Initiative, World Health Organization
³ Yale School of Public Health

Correspondence to:
Dr Frances A Stillman
Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Room W 6027, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; fstillma{at}jhsph.edu

May 2003 marked a critical achievement in efforts to stem the global tobacco epidemic, as the member states of the World Health Organization unanimously endorsed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). However, the adoption of the FCTC signifies only the end of the beginning of effective global action to control tobacco. Over the next several years the utility of the FCTC process and the treaty itself will be tested as individual countries seek to ratify and implement the treaty’s obligations. Significant barriers to the treaty’s long term success exist in many countries. It is crucial that the international tobacco control community now refocuses its efforts on national capacity building and ensures that individual countries have the knowledge, tools, data, people, and organisations needed to implement the convention and develop sustained tobacco control programmes. This paper provides a model of national tobacco control capacity and offers a prioritised agenda for action.

Abbreviations: COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; FCA, Framework Convention Alliance; FCTC, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; GTRN, Global Tobacco Research Network; GYTS, Global Youth Tobacco Survey; NGO, non-governmental organisation; PAHO, Pan American Health Organization; WHO, World Health Organization

Keywords: Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; national capacity building; networking; research infrastructure; resource mobilisation