The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

We go into tobacco control for a myriad of reasons, but ultimately, we become committed because we know that when we do our jobs right, the numbers translate into people – the people who live in better health for longer, the people who do not suffer the pain of losing a family member early, the children who grow up with more choices. But it can be hard – we can fail, invest in ineffective programmes, lose heart, be accused of doing this just to tell people how to live, see career opportunities pass by, recognise that we are in total disagreement with colleagues about our ultimate goals. We even discover that the most important actors for progress are usually outside of the field – the ones we learn from or try to influence, the journalists, legislators, role models and decision-makers, the smokers and non-smokers. When we succeed, we may not know or meet the people who have been kept out of the premature morbidity and mortality statistics. But when we fail, the individuals who are affected by this modern day scourge are countable. Nevertheless, we keep at it – because it's about the people.