On 11-13 December 2017, the WHO FCTC Secretariat’s Knowledge Hub on Surveillance at the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare will host an expert meeting on tobacco surveillance (in accordance with Article 20 of the Convention).

The meeting is co-organized by the WHO FCTC Secretariat’s Knowledge Hub on Surveillance, the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), in partnership with and with the support of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland.

The objective of this meeting is to discuss and agree on how to strengthen implementation of Article 20 of the Convention globally, including the type of assistance that Parties to the Convention need, to scale up their implementation of Article 20. The meeting will also contribute to the identification of stakeholders that could provide support to Parties in this work. This includes identification of possible areas of work of the Knowledge Hub on Surveillance, including the types of demands from the Parties’ which could be addressed by the Knowledge Hub.

The meeting will bring together experts who have extensive knowledge in setting up and running effective tobacco surveillance systems and monitoring programs at different administrative levels, who will consider a set of principles and approaches on the implementation of requirements of Article 20 of the WHO FCTC, including the indicators used to measure progress in such work. The meeting will also discuss the possibility of integrating health impact assessment with the development of Parties national legislations, regulations and policies that are in line with the WHO FCTC and will also address the research needs related to voluntary reporting of the Parties to the Convention on their work towards reaching target 3.a (Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate) and target 3.4 (By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being) of the Sustainable Development Goals, by their own identified indicators.

Participants will consider and capitalize upon the information contained in Parties’ implementation reports submitted in the 2016 reporting cycle.

The meeting will result in a set of key observations and recommendations on how to strengthen the various requirements of Article 20 of the Convention, including on how to best assist Parties in their work. Recommendations will be made, inter alia, on the establishment of state-of-the-art national, regional and global surveillance programmes and systems.

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