Dear Minister,

 

It was real pleasure being together with you at the meeting on health system financing.

 

I was informed that there will be a meeting between the Chair of the parliamentary committee on health and the Government. This is just to confirm full support of WHO to you personally in your capacity of the minister as well as to the entire Government and the Parliament in endorsing strict tobacco control law. I will personally raise the issue at all events until strict law is endorsed.

Our team from the Regional office and the Headquarters will be in Georgia during the first week of May and will attend the session of the Parliamentary committee on health as well as plenary session of the Parliament to provide last minute support, additionally too the support we have provided in the past.

 

It was expected that tobacco industry will interfere heavily with the process, as it did (and does) in all other countries. There are some indices that some members of the parliament and even government has been under unprecedented pressure of the industry. For this reason it is important to exclude tobacco industry from the policy process.

Protecting health and lives of Georgian citizens is the first priority and cannot be overruled by the commercial interests of the tobacco industry, including their partners, distribution channels and points of sales or other indirectly linked partners.

The evidence from other countries is very clear that only strict and comprehensive measures can protect people’s health from tobacco smoke.

In Georgia 11,000 people die every year, thousands of people face severe health consequences that generate substantial private and public health expenditures, not to mention disability and other negative impacts on the well-being of individuals, their families and entire society.

Tobacco kills. It is that simple.

 

Georgia has an excellent opportunity to endorse the law with measures, that were introduced by so many countries globally. For years Georgia has been lagging behind all those countries and the result is unprecedentedly high smoking prevalence in Georgia. Georgia is at the point when this trend can be turned down. Any weakening of the law or substantial postponement of the key measures will lead to more disease and more premature death.

 

For the above reasons you have my full support and full support of WHO in advocating for strict tobacco-control law.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Marijan Ivanuša

WHO Representative

Head of WHO Country Office Georgia

 

UN House

9 Eristavi St.

0179 Tbilisi

Georgia

Tel/Fax: +995 32 299 80 73

Mobile 1: +995 599 305 207

Mobile 2: +386 40 528 639

Email: ivanusam@who.int

Skype: who-ivanusam

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