Largest Conference on Tobacco Control in Chinese – Speaking World Held Successfully in Taipei

From Sept 4th to 6th, the 5th Cross-Strait Conference on Tobacco Control was held in Taipei, Taiwan, hosted by the John Tung Foundation. Over 400 advocates, scholars, public health professionals, and representatives of NGOs from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, gathered to share their experiences in tobacco control. It was the largest cross-strait conference since such gatherings began in 2007.

One of the conference’s main objectives is to promote communication and collaboration on tobacco control among the four Chinese–speaking zones of the world. The event opened with speeches by prominent public health and tobacco control leaders from Taiwan, including Madam Qiu Shuti, Minister of the Taiwan Ministry of Health, and Mr. Wu Boxiong, Honorary President of Chinese Nationalist Party.

World Lung Foundation was also invited to present a session entitled “Warn About The Dangers of Tobacco: Increasing Public Awareness of Secondhand Smoke Health Harms to Support Smoke-Free Policies in China”. Several experts from the four regions also delivered presentations on MPOWER strategies, as originally outlined by the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

After our presentation, I was approached by a number of conference participants who were very interested in our tobacco control mass media work – and was asked to provide technical assistance to their health communications campaigns in the future.

All in all, it was a very successful, meaningful and unforgettable conference! I hope our presence and the connections we’ve made will help facilitate tobacco control work across Greater China and Taiwan.