LATIN AMERICAN YOUTH FOR A SMOKE-FREE REGION

Latin American youths active in tobacco control drafted the “Declaration of Latin American and Caribbean Youths in Favour of Tobacco-Free Lives” when they met in Rio de Janeiro at the regional tobacco control conference held there September 5-7. 

The manifesto demanded that governments ratify the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, (FCTC) empower youth to effectively participate in tobacco control strategies, educate their populations about tobacco addiction, aid advocacy efforts and assist international and nongovernmental organizations active in the smoke-free movement.

Growing youth involvement in smoke-free campaigns

The youths were among the 330 participants of the First SRNT (Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco) Latin America and 2nd Iberoamerican Conference on Tobacco Control. The InterAmerican Heart Foundation co-organized the conference with the SRNT, and worked with the World Heart Federation to help bring youth participants to Rio de Janeiro and organize a youth meeting during the conference.  At the meeting, participants representing groups from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay exchanged information on their activities and developed the declaration for use in local advocacy efforts. Some of the youths also attended a pre-conference workshop held by Karen Gutierrez of Global Dialogue for Effective Stop Smoking Campaigns.

Building youth networks

The World Heart Federation and the InterAmerican Heart Foundation organized the youth meeting to enable youth anti-tobacco activists to build up their networks. Starting with a nucleus of representatives from the youth teams that attended the Global Youth Meet in India in 2006, they also invited representatives of the Centro de Investigación para la Epidemia del Tabaquismo (Centre for the Investigation of the Tobacco Epidemic: CIET) in Uruguay, BASTA! Jóvenes Latinoamericanos Libre de Tabaco (Latin American Youths Free of Tobacco), and Chilean students who designed the "FumarEsFumar" anti-tobacco marketing campaign.

Energy, commitment, action

Luis Cuesta, a youth activist from Choco, Colombia, said: “We need to create a consciousness among people of the damage to human health from tobacco and the cost to the community caused by it.” He helped end the pre-conference workshop on a lively note when he performed an anti-tobacco hip-hop dance number that he wrote to raise peers' consciousness about dangers of smoking.  After returning to Colombia, Mr Cuesta kicked off a smoke-free campaign that he has organized in Quibdo with support from the World Heart Federation.  “Sooner or later, Colombia’s going to win the war against tobacco” he declared.

Mateo Ferreiro of CIET takes his smoke-free advocacy personally: several years ago his father suffered two heart attacks. “When I learned about the connection between his heart attacks and tobacco,” said the 23-year-old medical student, “I got militant about tobacco…trying to educate students about the epidemic in all its forms: advertising, industry, economics and, above all, health.” He helped design an innovative interactive exhibition "Respira Uruguay" to raise Uruguayan youths' awareness of the effects of tobacco.

Veronica Sandler, an Argentine who represents BASTA!, commented: “We’re not against the smoker. We’re against the industry in its constant effort to addict us to nicotine and thereby to replace its dead consumers with new ones.”

Supporting youth initiatives

As part of the Colombia Model Youth project, the World Heart Federation works with the InterAmerican Heart Foundation and other partners to support local initiatives involving youth in anti-tobacco action in Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay. The project has been made possible by the generosity of Julio Mario and Beatrice Santo Domingo.

Visit the web page about the World Heart Federation’s youth health advocacy activities.

To see a video of the Choco sin Tabaco campaign organized by Luis Cuesto, visit http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=5104XbcS3N0.)

To see BASTA! web site, visit www.bastadetabaco.com

To see RESPIRA URUGUAY and learn more about CIET, go to www.ciet.org.uy.