Smoking Cessation Training on Capacity Building for Tobacco Control
During 2021 and 2022 I worked with the WHO (World Health Organisation) to develop a training package and manual and Cook Islands specific guidelines to support Ministry or Health and other staff to understand contemorary skills based interventions and to encourage tobacco cessation becoming a part of every clinical consult. In 2022 After the international borders were opened NCD and Tobacco Consultants was able to fly to the Cook Islands to provide training to the staff of a variety of health agency's. This was week long training included staff from the hospital maternity unit, health promotion staff and staff from the outer islands (pa enua).
Feature 1: The Ministry of Health Staff, WHO representative and myself - In the training rooms in Rarotonga
Cook Islands has an idylic lifestyle with beautful beaches and many outer islands (Pa Enua).
Current Issues as raised in the training
The beautiful Cook Islands is making in roads to address the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. However they didnt have systems in place to ensure everyone gets an tobacco cessation intervention on entry into the Department of Health services.
The participants of this workshop raised concerns about the increase in youth vaping and a senior member of the training was going to address this with senior MOH staff to aim to get regulations put in place, to minimise the harm and reduce the uptake of youth vaping.
Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC)
The Cooks Islands was one of the first islands in the Pacific Region to sign up for the FCTC. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003 and entered into force on 27 February 2005. It has since become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in United Nations history.
The WHO FCTC was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic and is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. The Convention represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation.
