The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: The Transnational Tobacco Companies (TNTs) are not bound by borders in their relentless pursuit for profits – creating a global tobacco epidemic that requires a global response. As the US continues to grow in its diversity with immigrants from all over the world, tobacco control advocates must work on the local and global level to combat the global tobacco epidemic. Without a global component to our local work, any success we have locally will be mitigated by the ability of the tobacco industry to seek out replacement smokers abroad.

The San Francisco Tobacco Free Project promotes tobacco control buddy partnerships between funded community based organizations and international tobacco control advocates to address the global tobacco epidemic. The goal of the partnership is for groups to exchange tobacco control ideas, techniques, and resources between communities; and to promote youth-to-youth and adult-to-adult communication, solidarity and exchange leading to a joint action between the two programs.

Methods:

Over 10 NGO's funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free project and their buddies from abroad have successfully partnered to implement joint actions. The presentation will include information about the aggressive and manipulative strategies used by the tobacco industry in countries outside the US, solidarity strategies including information and material exchange, campaigns for a strong and binding FCTC, and successful joint actions.

Results:

Joint actions include: joint surveys, policy development efforts, and media advocacy campaigns.