The Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) has been applauded for the successful implementation its activities during the first phase of the project that ends July 2014. This was during a dissemination dinner held by the Centre on July 4, at the Serena Hotel in Kampala, where CTCA shared its achievements and challenges over the last three years with members of its Steering Committee and representatives of its target countries, Tobacco control as well as Development Partners.
Officiating at the dinner, Uganda’s Minister of Health, Hon. Dr, Ruhakana Rugunda noted that since its inception, CTCA has provided tremendous support to the Government of Uganda and other governments in Africa to push forward the tobacco control agenda, alongside with other Partners. Such efforts, he noted, have raised the profile of tobacco control in Africa and even resulted into a push for the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ( FCTC).
The Minister, who was represented by the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, pledged government’s commitment to ensuring that the Tobacco control Bill is passed into law.
Minister Rugunda paid tribute to WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the technical and financial support extended to the Centre and urged them to keep supporting the Centre even through the next phase, adding that with the expertise generated at CTCA, the Centre is now more relevant to Africa than before.
He hailed Makerere University School of Public Health for making Uganda proud by hosting the Centre and guiding it to growth, and the CTCA Staff for the commitment and hard work put in rolling out the operations of the Centre not just in Uganda, but in all the other target countries of Angola, Mauritania, Kenya and South Africa. He commended them for transforming themselves into tobacco control experts in the region in a such a short time.
The WHO Country Representative to Uganda, Dr. W. Alemu pledged WHO’s continued support to the center and all efforts geared towards the implementation of the WHO FCTC in the region.
Prof. William Bazeyo, CTCA’s Director and Dean Makerere University School of Public Health ( MakSPH) paid special tribute to WHO for trusting Makerere University enough to award it the bid to host a regional Centre for Africa. He said MakSPH, with funding from IDRC, is supporting the Centre to interest a pool of students in the Schools of Public under the Health Alliance of East and Central Africa to undertake research in tobacco control.
The CTCA Manager, Dr. Possy Mugyenyi thanked all the Tobacco Control Focal Persons in CTCA’s target countries for believing in the Centre and giving it an opportunity to support them. He also applauded the other TC partners in the region for their commitment to tobacco control adding that effective TC interventions can only be attained through coordinated activities of the TC actors.
CTCA was established in 2011 by WHO with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is hosted by Makerere University School of Public Health on behalf of a Consortium of three partners including; Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health (UNACOH) and Uganda Health Communications Alliance ( UHCA). The first phase of the project covered the period August 2011 – July 2014, in five target countries of Angola, Kenya, Mauritania, South Africa and Uganda.