The Convention Secretariat, through the FCTC 2030 Project, and the WHO FCTC Knowledge Hub on Tobacco Taxation are pleased to present an Introductory Workshop on Tobacco Taxation. This is made possible with the generous support of the Governments of Australia, Norway and the United Kingdom. 

Objective: Tobacco taxation is a very effective and cost-effective policy tool, both from a public health and a fiscal perspective. This workshop will provide an introduction to tobacco taxation, illicit trade in tobacco products and tax modelling. During the workshop, the policy challenges common to tobacco taxation will be explored. 

Course content: This 5-day virtual event aims to support Parties to the WHO FCTC, in particular countries eligible to receive official development assistance, to implement effective tax and price policies as part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy. Topics to be covered will include: the evidence for implementing tax and price measures, economic concepts relevant to tobacco taxation such as demand for tobacco and price elasticity, tax pass-through and affordability, illicit tobacco trade in low- and middle-income countries, how tobacco taxation contributes to sustainable development, and an introduction to tax modelling.  

Target audience: This workshop is designed for policy makers. Government officials from Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities, Customs and Health are encouraged to join.   

Simultaneous interpretation will be available in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish. 

• DATES : Monday, 14 March – Friday, 18 March 2022 
• TIME : 14h30-17h30 (GMT+2) each day 

Kindly, please, register no later than 13 March 2022 and the Zoom link will be sent to you before the event. The page to register is available HERE.  

Find below the promotional brochure, available also in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

For questions, please, contact the Knowledge Hub on Tobacco Taxation at tobaccotaxationkh@gmail.com or the Development Assistance team of the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC at fctc2030@who.int. 

This is to inform you that the Convention Secretariat has published on 22 February 2022, via the WHO, a Request for Proposals for Development of the global funding gap indicator and making a calculation of the global funding gap for the implementation of the WHO FCTC, in line with the Global Strategy to Accelerate Tobacco Control: Advancing Sustainable Development through the Implementation of the WHO FCTC 2019–2025.

The Convention Secretariat seeks to identify a suitable contractor to provide expert advice in order to develop an indicator to measure the gap in global funding for WHO FCTC implementation, provide a baseline figure of the global funding gap in WHO FCTC implementation and provide a methodological tool that could be used by the Parties to the WHO FCTC to measure/calculate their own national funding gap for WHO FCTC implementation. Those potentially interested can obtain additional details through the terms of reference.

The Request for Proposals is published on the United Nations Global Market website, available through this link.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 15 April 2022.

For questions, please, contact the Reporting, Knowledge Management and Communication team at copreporting@who.int

Photograph: Mr Robin Swann MLA, Minister of Health, and Ms Colette Rogers, from the Public Health Agency, raising awareness of new regulations on smoking in private vehicles. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Health, Northern Ireland).

In Tunisia, tobacco weighs heavily on the health of its population and on its economy. In 2019, 13,200 deaths, or 20% of all deaths are attributable to tobacco, while the economic losses represent 1.8% of the national GDP.