The Turkish National Coalition on Smoking or Health received the 2009 Global Smokefree Partnership Extraordinary Award for its outstanding commitment to promote Smokefree legislation at the national level in order to facilitate the implementation of Article 8 of the FCTC.

The country of Turkey and SSUK, a national coalition of NGOs and government agencies against tobacco, was awarded for their efforts to adopt, implement and successfully enforce smokefree legislation in an 18 month period. Their achievement is the result of numerous individuals and organizations working together under the SSUK. This SSUK coalition includes both governmental and nongovernmental organizations including the WHO country office, the Turkish Ministry of Health, members of Parliament and TAPDK (Regulatory Committee for Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Alcoholic Beverages Market).

Their concerted efforts which included training, monitoring, mobilizing civil society and high level advocacy, marked unprecedented national efforts to change the norm on smoking in public and working places, and resulted in a revolutionary change in attitudes towards tobacco smoke exposure.

Report: Tobacco Control in Turkey (PDF)

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Latest resources from the clearinghouse:

The Trend Toward Smokefree Outdoor Areas

Reducing Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Prisons

The Global Smokefree Partnership produces background papers in the FCTC Article 8-Plus Series on challenging issues in smokefree air policy that are not fully addressed by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) or its guidelines. These issues include how to address smoking in residential and quasi-residential settings, and in outdoor areas where smoking can cause public health, safety, environmental and other harm.

One such paper, The Trend Toward Smokefree Outdoor Areas highlights the actions of governments and institutions to restrict smoking in outdoor areas as new evidence emerges about the damaging effects of smoking on air quality in outdoor places.

Reducing Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Prisons addresses the special challenges presented when attempting to protect people from secondhand smoke exposure in confined spaces such as prisons. 

These papers, and others in the series, are intended to provide references to helpful resources and background information to those working to address these policy challenges.

The Global Smokefree Project continued its efforts to promote effective smokefree air policies worldwide and to raise awareness of the health risks of secondhand smoke at the 2010 World Cancer Congress, organized by the International Union Against Cancer, in Shenzhen, China this past August. In addition to focusing on primary prevention, early detection and screening, this year, the WCC highlighted other aspects of cancer prevention that are directly and indirectly related to smokefree efforts to prevent cancer.

GSP provided information and materials on secondhand smoke exposure at a booth co-hosted with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Resources included the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report on Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects, as well as a Global Smokefree Partnership report, available in English and Chinese and co-produced with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, providing an overview of the evidence of cardiovascular effects of secondhand smoke exposure.

Also available were the Global Smokefree Partnership and Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s short film, Warning, Secondhand Smoke May be Hazardous to Your Heart. This film, available in English and Chinese highlights the role that cardiologists can play in tobacco control and underscores the urgency of taking action to prevent exposure to secondhand smoke.

If you have any general questions, please feel free to contact us at info@globalsmokefreepartnership.org