The 11th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health held in Beijing

        The 11th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health (APACT) was held from 23th  to 25th Sept. 2016 in Beijing. The APACT conference is the premier tobacco control conference for the Asia Pacific, aiming to encourage tobacco control and public health advocates, researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and especially youth leaders, to share experiences and discuss strategies for implementation of the FCTC. The conference was sponsored by Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China Centre for Health Education and the Chinese Association on Preventive Medicine.

    Asia Pacific Association for the Control of Tobacco (APACT) was launched by John Tung Foundation on June 12, 1989. Dr. David Yen, Founder and Chairman of JTF, has consulted with Dr. Ted Chen(Professor of Duke University ), Dr. Judith Mackay(Senior policy adviser of WHO, director of Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control) and many tobacco control advocates from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong,Indonesia,Malaysia, Macau,Taipei,Australia and the USA, and organized the 1st APACT Meeting in Taipei in 1989. The purpose of APACT is to promote the creation of a smoke-free environment for people of the Pacific Asia Region Encouragement shall be given to the achievement of this general purpose through the organization of meetings and conferences, release of publications and such other means as are deemed appropriate by APACT. 
     The theme of the conference is “Eradicate Tobacco Caused Hazards; Protect the Right to Live Healthy” highlights the fact that tobacco use is the most alarming risk factor for diseases causing millions of deaths every year and contributing to the enormous burden of NCDs all over the world. The Conference format included 2 section plenary meetings and 11 sub forums which is: Surveillance and evaluation on tobacco use and prevention policies ECigarette; From graphic health warnings to plain packaging; Banning Tobacco Advertisement, promotion and sponsorship; Smoking and CVD; Smoking and Lung Cancer; Forum on Hospital Presidents; Smoke-free legislation and smoke-free environment; Health education and Media; Smoking Cessation Service; Tobacco Control and Adolescent Health; Tobacco price, trade and tax; ect. Over 200 posters were set up.
     More than 700 participants came from 27 countries joined the conference. The meeting gave all participants the opportunity to discuss the current situation and came up with proposals on how to accelerate tobacco control in all countries. It is a great conference and very successful.