THE HEART FOUNDATION OF JAMAICA RECEIVES REGIONAL GRANT FROM THE BLOOMBERG GLOBAL INITIATIVE
The Heart Foundation of Jamaica (for The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control) along with its partners, have received a grant of USD$627,824 from the Bloomberg Global Initiative. This grant will support the implementation of rotating picture-based package warnings on tobacco products sold in Caribbean countries and will be administered through the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
What is the Bloomberg Initiative?
The Bloomberg Initiative was set up in 2006, by Michael R. Bloomberg (Mayor of New York City) to combat tobacco use in low and middle-income countries, where more than two-thirds of the world's smokers live. It was originally a $125 million initiative but has now been extended, with a new $250 million donation over four years, bringing the New York Mayor's total commitment to over $375 million. In July 2008, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also announced a donation of $125 million dollars over five years to fight the tobacco epidemic, including a $24 million grant to the Bloomberg Initiative.
| PROJECT DETAILS |
| Project title | "Introducing a Picture-Based Health Warning System on Cigarette Packages in the Caribbean"
|
| Grant amount | USD$627,824 |
| Project duration | 24 months |
| Proposed project start date | 1 April 2008 |
| Project scope | Regional – The Caribbean – including Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago
|
| Project outreach | The population of the 4 countries involved in the project |
How will the funding be used?
The Bloomberg Project’s primary objective is to achieve a strong CARICOM (Caribbean Community and Common Market) cigarette labelling standard, which is currently being updated and circulated for comment in countries. It also aims to ensure implementation of the standard or equally strong requirements in four target countries: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago. This includes liaising with the Ministries of Health and Bureaus of Standards in the target countries.
This project aims to ensure the implementation of rotating picture-based package warnings on tobacco products sold in Caribbean countries, of a minimum size of 50% on the top of each main face of the packaging. Project strategies will include lobbying national politicians, raising awareness among key decision makers and community leaders, and mobilising and informing strategic sectors of the public, including the media, in support of the warnings.
This project has the political commitment of the Ministries of Health of Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. This group of countries together represents more than 78.3% (4,986,000) of the population of the English-speaking Caribbean.
Other Caribbean-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) committed to the project are The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados, The Guyana Chest Society and The Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society.
Project staffing
The project office is situated in the HFJ with responsibility for implementation in four Caribbean countries. The office is staffed by a Project Manager (Mrs Barbara McGaw, left in photo above) and a Communications Officer (Mrs Dawn Williams, centre in photo above) with additional administrative support from HFJ. The Executive Director of HFJ (Mrs Deborah Chen, centre in photo above) oversees the entire project. Each of the other three countries has a Project Officer in the HFJ (centre back of the photo is Dr Knox Hagley, Chairman of the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control).
Deaths due to tobacco
Although tobacco deaths rarely make headlines, tobacco kills one person every six seconds1. Tobacco kills a third to half of all people who use it 2, on average 15 years prematurely2,3,4.Today, tobacco use causes 1 in 10 deaths among adults worldwide – more than five million people a year1.
In the Caribbean it is estimated that the prevalence of tobacco use is about 15% in youth and approximately 10–25% in the population aged over 15 years5,6. Data from the Global Youth Tobacco survey (GYTS) performed in Jamaica in 2006, showed that one-fifth of students surveyed (aged 13–14 years) currently use some form of tobacco; 17% currently smoke cigarettes; 12% currently other tobacco products7. In a recent presentation regarding tobacco deaths in Trinidad and Tobago, it was estimated that tobacco deaths as a percentage of medical deaths, ranged from 30% in males to 14% in females8.
The use of health warnings
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), signed and ratified by nine Caribbean countries, contains a host of measures designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impact of tobacco. “The placement of rotating health warnings on tobacco packaging that cover at least 30 percent (but ideally 50 percent or more) of the principal display areas and can include pictures or pictograms” is one of the FFCTC provisions (Article 11).
Picture-based health warnings on tobacco packaging motivate smokers to try to quit smoking, inform potential adolescent smokers of the harms of tobacco use, and inform smokers of the harm caused to loved ones by second-hand tobacco smoke exposure9.
Regulations governing tobacco package warnings in the Caribbean in almost all countries are largely outdated or do not exist6,10. Although each country has the authority to regulate tobacco packaging on a national basis, CARICOM, a regional integration group formalised by treaty in 1973, has overall authority to develop standards. Although these standards are not legally required, they are customarily adopted by CARICOM countries.
The Labelling Technical Committee of the Bureau of Standards (BOS) of Jamaica is the body designated by CARICOM to develop recommendations for tobacco package warnings. In 2005, the BOS Jamaica was asked by the regional Standards body, the Caribbean Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) to revise the cigarette labelling standards for use as a prototype by Member States of CARICOM. This process is currently being carried out.
The Role of Jamaica’s Ministry of Health
The Ministry of Health in Jamaica has been strongly involved in tobacco control in Jamaica and the CARICOM region, having an important role in the ratification of the FCTC among the CARICOM countries. The BOS of other countries were asked to send comments on the proposal by the end of 2007. Trinidad and Tobago's deadline for complying with the FCTC requirements was 28 February 2008; Jamaica's deadline is 5 Oct 2008; Barbados’ is 15 March 2009 and Guyana’s 14 November 2009.
Political support
A key barrier to the development of a strong recommendation by the Jamaica BOS is the fact that the tobacco industry representatives are very active. Effective political support across all Caribbean countries is required to counteract the pressure and lobbying that the tobacco companies are able to apply within the industry and the region. This project will sensitise policy makers and key opinion leaders regarding the importance of communicating accurate, clear, strong, direct, specific and easy-to-understand information about the health hazards of tobacco use to smokers and second-hand tobacco smoke to smokers’ families.
For further information contact:
Dawn Williams
Communications Officer
The Heart Foundation of Jamaica/Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control
Bloomberg Global Initiative
30 Beechwood Avenue
Kingston 5
Jamaica
Phone: 876-960-8293, 926-4378, 926-6492
Fax: 876 754 6441
Email: jctc(at)infochan.com, dawnwilliams(at)cwjamaica.com
Website: www.heartfoundation.org.jm
Further information about the Jamaica Heart Foundation
The Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) was established in 1971 and is a member of the InterAmerican Heart Foundation and the World Heart Federation. The Foundation is involved in prevention programmes for cardiovascular disease. The establishment of the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control was spearheaded by The Heart Foundation of Jamaica and was launched on May 31, World No Tobacco Day, 2002.
References
1. Mathers CD, Loncar D. Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Medicine 2006; 3(11):e442.
2. Peto R, et al. Mortality from smoking worldwide. British Medical Bulletin 1996; 52(1):12–21.
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The health consequences of smoking: a report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004
(http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2004/chapters.htm, accessed 5 December 2007).
4. Peto R, et al. Mortality from tobacco in developed countries: indirect estimation from national vital statistics. Lancet 1992; 339 (8804):1268–1278.
5. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 - The MPOWER package, Appendix III, Page 270-271. (http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/en/index.html)
6. Introducing Picture-Based Health Warnings on Cigarette Packages in The Caribbean. Alliance Bulletin Issue #68, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control July 2007; page 5.
(http://www.fctc.org/x/bulletin/COP2_68.pdf)
7. GYTS Fact Sheet – Jamaica/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Global Youth tobacco Survey
(http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/global/GYTS/factsheets/paho/2006/Jamaica_factsheet.htm)
8. NCDs and Tobacco in the Caribbean, Prof George Alleyne, Disease Control Priorities Project, June 2007. (http://www.dcp2.org/file/133/Anniversary_Alleyne.pdf)
9. Text and Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Packages. Findings from the International Tobacco Control: Four Country Study. David Hammond, PhD, Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD, Ron Borland, PhD, K. Michael Cummings, PhD, Ann McNeill, PhD, Pete Driezen, MSC. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2007; 32(3).
10. Bianco E, Champagne B, Barnoya J. The tobacco epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean: A snapshot . Prevention and Control 2006; 1(4): 311–317.
