Annual Report 05 - International Union Against Cancer

Connecting, mobilizing, supporting
Platforms for communication
GLOBALink
GLOBALink, the online
UICC tobacco control network,
is an internationally
recognized platform for communication
for tobacco control professionals,
allowing them to find and exchange
the latest, most accurate information
and analysis, access specific publications,
guidelines and reports, and
engage in collective action.
Now in its second decade,
Conflicts of interests
GLOBALink members are required
to have no affiliation with the
tobacco industry (and to declare their
affiliation to companies that produce
Empowering tobacco control
GLOBALink has received the Luther
L Terry Award and the Tobacco or
Health medal from WHO. Among
its most popular services are the
GLOBALink forums, the News and
Information Monitoring Initiative,
and the Medical Journal Update.
GLOBALink hosts 14 general
forums in English, 12 general forums
in other languages, and 15 national
forums in various languages. These
smoking-cessation or similar
tobacco- related products).
The tobacco industry notoriously
channels funding to scientists, educa-
In February, the UICC welcomed a landmark report by the World
Health Organization (WHO), presenting the first comprehensive
analysis of global tobacco use and control efforts.
The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008: The
MPOWER package documents how the tobacco epidemic is shifting
to the developing world and warns it could claim as many as a billion
lives by the end of the century. It compiles data on the numbers
of smokers or tobacco chewers in 179 countries and notes that governments
collect more than US$200 billion (€137 billion) in tobacco
taxes every year but spend less than one fifth of 1% of that revenue
on tobacco control. It emphasizes that only 5% of the world’s population
live in countries that fully protect their population with any
of the key measures that reduce smoking rates.
The report urges governments to adopt tobacco control policies to
prevent young people from beginning to smoke, to help smokers quit,
and to protect non-smokers from exposure to second-hand smoke.
forums allow members to make
announcements, distribute information,
exchange strategies, ask questions
and seek advice. Most importantly,
they are a place for debate and
discussion.
The GLOBALink advisory committee
has developed a “netiquette”
to guide conduct so as to create
active, participatory, relevant and
quality dialogue in the forums.
tors and public bodies through allegedly
independent “arms-length”
bodies. Consequently, the
GLOBALink advisory committee
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Platforms for communication