• 74 delegates from SAARC countries will participate in the programme

Kathmandu, May 7 A week-long South Asia Tobacco Control Leadership Programme is scheduled to begin here tomorrow. The conference to be jointly organised by the Ministry of Health, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Action Nepal will bring together as many as 74 delegates from SAARC countries, said Action Nepal Chair Ananda Bahadur Chand. The leadership programme will focus on building capacity to develop effective tobacco control policy and interventions. According to organisers, the programme course will focus on a myriad of tobacco topics, including policy development, advocacy, communications, implementation and evaluation, and management and leadership. The programme is structured around components of the World Health Organisation’s MPOWER package of tobacco control interventions and the faculty comprises regional and international experts in areas such as tobacco control policy, economics, communications, advocacy, and research and evaluation. The programme aims to enhance leadership and networking skills to affect policy development and implementation, delineate leadership principles and their relevance in addressing country specific tobacco control issues and challenges, strengthen skills in policy intervention, development and implementation, strategic communication and engage with and enhance collaboration among a wide range of partners in the tobacco control movement. It is the first time that the annual tobacco control leadership programme is being held in Nepal, thanks to its ‘praiseworthy initiatives in making and implementing tobacco control laws’, said Chand.