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Review
Impact of the WHO FCTC over the first decade: a global evidence review prepared for the Impact Assessment Expert Group
  1. Janet Chung-Hall1,
  2. Lorraine Craig1,
  3. Shannon Gravely1,
  4. Natalie Sansone1,
  5. Geoffrey T Fong1,2,3
  1. 1 Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
  2. 2 School of Public Health and Health Systems, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
  3. 3 Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Dr Janet Chung-Hall, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada; jchunghall{at}uwaterloo.ca

Abstract

Objective To present findings of a narrative review on the implementation and effectiveness of 17 Articles of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) during the Treaty’s first decade.

Data sources Published reports on global FCTC implementation; searches of four databases through June 2016; hand-search of publications/online resources; tobacco control experts.

Study selection WHO Convention Secretariat global progress reports (2010, 2012, 2014); 2015 WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic; studies of social, behavioural, health, economic and/or environmental impacts of FCTC policies.

Data extraction Progress in the implementation of 17 FCTC Articles was categorised (higher/intermediate/lower) by consensus. 128 studies were independently selected by multiple authors in consultation with experts.

Data synthesis Implementation was highest for smoke-free laws, health warnings and education campaigns, youth access laws, and reporting/information exchange, and lowest for measures to counter industry interference, regulate tobacco product contents, promote alternative livelihoods and protect health/environment. Price/tax increases, comprehensive smoking and marketing bans, health warnings, and cessation treatment are associated with decreased tobacco consumption/health risks and increased quitting. Mass media campaigns and youth access laws prevent smoking initiation, decrease prevalence and promote cessation. There were few studies on the effectiveness of policies in several domains, including measures to prevent industry interference and regulate tobacco product contents.

Conclusions The FCTC has increased the implementation of measures across several policy domains, and these implementations have resulted in measurable impacts on tobacco consumption, prevalence and other outcomes. However, FCTC implementation must be accelerated, and Parties need to meet all their Treaty obligations and consider measures that exceed minimum requirements.

  • global health
  • prevention
  • public policy

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution IGO License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction for non-commercial purposes in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In any reproduction of this article there should not be any suggestion that WHO or this article endorse any specific organization or products. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article’s original URL.

https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054389

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors JC-H led the writing of the paper and updated literature searches. JC-H, SG and NS conducted literature searches. LC revised the drafts of the paper and reviewed updates to the literature searches. LC, SG, NS and GTF reviewed and revised the draft paper.

    • Funding Health Canada (grant number: 4500345764), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant number: FDN-148477) and Senior Investigator Grant from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

    • Disclaimer GTF received honorarium from the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC for his work as member of the impact assessment expert group.

    • Competing interests GTF has served as an expert witness on behalf of governments in litigation involving the tobacco industry.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it was published Online First. The original release of this article stated incorrectly that the authors were WHO staff members. In fact, the Impact Assessment Expert Group was independent of both the WHO and the FCTC Secretariat in the preparation of its report and of this article.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.