Turkish anti-tobacco fight honored by US

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Bloomberg says he would donate $220 million to help reduce tobacco use globally.

Bloomberg Philanthropies announced yesterday the winners of the Bloomberg Awards for Global Tobacco Control, sys-s0n website reported. Turkey was recognized for the efforts of the Turkish National Coalition on Tobacco or Health (SSUK), a coalition of more than 40 organizations that focuses on tobacco control. 

SSUK advocated to ensure that the Turkish national tobacco control law that recently passed was strong and comprehensive, and has been subsequently involved in monitoring implementation of the law. The awards ceremony took place today in Singapore at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, led by Michael R. Bloomberg, philanthropist and Mayor of New York City. 

“Tobacco kills every day but we are fighting back,” said Bloomberg. “Our awardees represent the thousands of heroes who are taking on the fight against tobacco in their countries, regions and cities every day. We are honoring those who have shown exemplary progress since our efforts commenced in 2007, and we hope their work will inspire others to achieve similar success.”

The Bloomberg Awards for Global Tobacco Control recognize governments or non-governmental organizations in low- and middle-income countries that demonstrate excellent progress or achievement in implementation of MPOWER policies. 

The MPOWER strategy, established by the World Health Organization, are the six most effective tobacco control interventions: Monitoring the epidemic and prevention policies, Protecting people from secondhand smoke, Offering help to people who want to quit, Warning about the dangers of tobacco, Enforcing bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship and Raising tobacco taxes and prices.

Bloomberg charity adds $220 million to anti-smoking effort

Michael Bloomberg’s charitable foundation will commit $220 million over the next four years to fight tobacco use globally, including for the funding of legal challenges against the industry, Reuters reported yesterday. 

Calling tobacco “a scourge all over the world” and accusing cigarette makers of “nefarious activities,” the New York City mayor said at a news conference that his foundation will focus on low and moderate-income countries where nearly 80 percent of smokers live, like Russia, China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh.