A three day training has been held Dhaka, Senegal, to equip tobacco control actors with techniques to effectively search, use and disseminate tobacco industry information to mitigate tobacco industry policy interference in the Africa. The training on Tobacco Industry Documents Research in Africa ( TIDRA) was conducted by CTCA in partnership with Dr. Marty Otañez of the University of Colorado Denver, from June 7-9, 2016. It was attended by actors from three Francophone countries of Mauritania, Gabon and Senegal the host.
Officiating at the training, Dr. Seynabou BA, the Technical Advisor of the Senegalese Minister of Health hailed CTCA for supporting African countries to implement evidence based tobacco control strategies as guided by the WHO Framework Convention on tobacco control ( FCTC). She emphasized the importance of the training cautioning that the tobacco industry is a devious enemy whose tactics aim to undermine anti-tobacco activities and subvert the FCTC, thus the urgent need for tobacco control advocates to devise strategies of mitigating TI interference.
The lead facilitator Dr. Marty Otañez said TIDRA’s goal’s is to develop a specialized team of African scholars and advocates that will use documents research in innovative ways to mitigate industry interference and enhance successful implementation of the FCTC in Africa.
CTCA’s Technical Advisor on Policy Mr. Oumar Ndao said the Centre provides capacity building to countries in various FCTC areas to empower government and other TC actors to effectively implement tobacco control strategies, including the mitigation of tobacco industry interference.
Participants called on donors and partners to avail more funding for research into tobacco industry documents as a strategy monitoring and averting TI interference.
Truth Tobacco Documents Library (TTDL) is a repository of over 14 million formerly secret tobacco industry documents at the University of California, San Francisco USA. Global researchers and advocates use documents to make visible bad practices of the tobacco industry and increase public knowledge of industry strategies to interfere with the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Africa.