This week, several representatives of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) will be attending the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi. WCTOH is a five-day scientific conference where presenters highlight the latest developments in tobacco control and the efforts around the world to reduce tobacco use. 
This year, the conference theme is “Tobacco and Non-Communicable Diseases.” Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death globally and the one risk factor common to the major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes.
This theme is particularly relevant to ASH’s work. ASH is a member of the DC-based NCD roundtable, an organization that works to ensure the inclusion of NCD’s in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which will replace the Millennium Development Goals.
ASH’s campaign at the United Nations resulted in the inclusion of tobacco control in the draft of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and ASH continues working to ensure that tobacco control remains in the final draft of the SDGs, which will be adopted in September of this year. Read more about ASH’s work with SDG’s here>.
Many other important tobacco control topics will be presented and discussed at WCTOH. In addition to NCDs, ASH will be participating in panel discussions on illicit trade and access to minors, tobacco endgame strategies, civil society involvement, tobacco and trade agreements, liability, and human rights. In particular, ASH Executive Director, Laurent Huber, will be speaking at a plenary session regarding the 10 year anniversary of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
ASH looks forward to a productive week of presentations and discussions with key stakeholders in the field of tobacco control. Follow us throughout the week as we tweet about the conference via @ AshOrg, or follow all of the conference activity on twitter with #WCTOH2015.
For those attending WCTOH2015 or planning to watch the live webcast, you can see ASH presentations at the following panels:
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Main Plenary 2- Ten Years of the WHO FCTC ( Powerpoint Slides)
Thursday, March 19, 2015
No. 07- Innovative Approaches to the Endgame for Tobacco
No. 22- Social Marketing to Change Behavior in Non-Communicable Diseases
No. 29- Can Tobacco Executives Be Held Criminally Liable for the Tobacco-Related Deaths of their Customers? ( Powerpoint for Panel)
Friday, March 20, 2015
No. 36- Integrating Tobacco Control and NCDs in the Sustainable Development Framework
No. 49- Treatment of Tobacco in 21st Century Trade and Investment Rules ( Powerpoint for Panel)
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Meet the Expert Session- Meet Mr Huber to discuss: The FCA–using its network to keep tobacco control high on the post-2015 development agenda.
No. 63- Human Rights Based Approach to Tobacco Control
