Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use

The Bloomberg Initiative (BI) to Reduce Tobacco Use in low- and middle-income countries was launched in 2006.  The BI places priority on countries with the greatest number of smokers.  Based on this criteria, 15 Bloomberg focus countries in the world were selected under this initiative, four of which - Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Thailand are from the South-East Asia Region.

The initiative was created with initial US$ 125 million pledged by Mr Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, out of which a Grant Fund of US$ 40 million was set up to carry out the Grant Mechanism and the remaining funds were given to partner organizations to  provide technical assistance to 15 high-burden low and middle income Bloomberg  focus countries.  In July 2008 Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates announced joint efforts to combat the global tobacco epidemic. The Bloomberg Initiative was extended with a new $250 million four-year commitment and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced an investment of $125 million over five years to fight the tobacco epidemic, including a $24 million grant to the Bloomberg Initiative.

The initiative as a whole, combining the Grant Mechanism and the Technical Assistance, focuses on four components at country level. The Components are as follows:

      Refine and optimize tobacco control programs to help smokers stop and prevent children  from starting;

      Support public sector efforts to pass and enforce key laws and implement effective policies, in particular to tax cigarettes, prevent smuggling, change the image of tobacco, and protect workers from exposure to other people’s smoke;

      Support advocates’ efforts to educate communities about the harms of tobacco and to enhance tobacco control activities so as to help make the world tobacco-free; and

      Develop a rigorous system to monitor the status of global tobacco use.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and CDC Foundation, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, WHO and the World Lung Foundation (WLF) are partners in the Initiative.

All partner organizations work in synergy with governments, intergovernmental organizations, state and provincial authorities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the 15 Bloomberg focus countries across the world.

WHO regional and country offices have developed workplans for 2009-2010. Highlighting mainly the following areas:

      Promoting and facilitating the implementation of effective national coordination mechanisms for tobacco control;

      Promoting and facilitating an approved national tobacco control action plan (NAP) including a plan for sustained funding for tobacco control efforts, supported by a broad coalition of governmental and non governmental organizations;

      Engaging actively in the Grant Mechanism;

      Promoting and facilitating a system of monitoring and evaluation of tobacco control policies;

      Promoting and facilitating a surveillance system to measure trends in exposure to tobacco and measure the impact of tobacco control policies;

      Generating economic analysis for advocacy, policy setting and capacity building for countries in the area of taxation; and

      Implementing and providing support for the observance of the World No Tobacco Day.