The Smoke Free Partnership and the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention with the support of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe hosted a World No Tobacco Day 2021 conference on 8 June 2021 (14:00 CET). The conference “Tobacco free policy-making for a tobacco free Europe” focused on exposing, discussing, and counteracting tobacco industry efforts against tobacco control progress.

The first part of the event featured a high-level panel discussion between experts, advocates and policymakers who discussed tobacco industry interference tactics and ways in which policymakers and advocates in different countries have counteracted them. It also addressed the industry’s attempts to take advantage of the COVID-19 epidemic in the past year to whitewash its reputation and to re-gain a seat at the policy-making table.

Keynote interventions included:

• Paul Blokhuis, State Secretary for Health, the Netherlands (video recording )
• Dr Carina Ferreira BORGES, Head of WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases

The second part of the event consisted of a virtual award ceremony facilitated by WHO EURO, to honour and recognise the European recipients of the 2021 WHO World No Tobacco Day Award:

• Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Mr Cornel Radu-Loghin, Secretary General, European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention
• German Network of Tobacco Free Hospitals and Healthcare Services, Federal Republic of Germany
• Tobacco Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology, Kingdom of Spain
• Dr Müşerref Pervin Tuba Durgut, Vice President of Health, Family, Labor and Social Affairs, Commission of the Grand National Assembly, Republic of Turkey
• Ministry of Health, Russian Federation (TBC)

 The agenda is available for download below. The recording is available on the ENSP YouTube channel here (also embedded below).