Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The FCTC is a legally binding treaty that requires countries of the world bound by the treaty ─ or Parties ─ to implement evidence-based measures to reduce tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.

There are 182 parties to the FCTC as of May 2020, says agency report.

The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, the sponsors of the challenge, is a foundation funded by Philip Morris International (PMI), one of the biggest tobacco manufacturing companies in the world.

Tobacco kills more than eight million people yearly, with more than seven million of the deaths due to direct tobacco use, according to the World Health Organisation.

However, about 1.2 million of the deaths are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

To check the interference of the tobacco industry in countries’ public health policies, the WHO-FCTC in Article 5.3 stated that, “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law.”

Nonetheless, to bypass this provision, PMI established, in September 2017, the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to “solving the global health crisis and ending smoking in this generation.”

PMI initially pledged to, starting from 2018, support the Foundation with $80 million annually over 12 years.

Report says two weeks after its launch, the WHO issued a statement saying there are a number of clear conflicts of interest involved with a tobacco company funding a purported health foundation.

The UN agency said: “WHO will not partner with the Foundation.

“Governments should not partner with the Foundation and the public health community should follow the lead.”