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The 6th National conference on Tobacco or Health : Cooperation in Building Thailand Society with out Cigarette
Date: September 10-11, 2007 Venue: Miracle Grand Convention Hotel, Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Bangkok

Background : For the last three decades, Thailand has succeeded satisfactorily in tobacco consumption control both nationally and internationally. Thailand currently has been using two powerful laws which are (1) the Tobacco Product Control Act. B.E. 2535 (1992) and (2) the Non-Smokers Health Protection Act 2535 (1992), and was the 38th in 147 countries who ratified the WHO-FCTC in 2005. As a result, Thailand has a commitment to implement provisions following WHO-FCTC agreements, the same as other countries aiming to increase their abilities efficiently for tobacco consumption control using similar worldwide principles. Indicators show the success in tobacco consumption control described as follows: (1) the number of regular smokers (1992-2006) decreased from 11.67 million or 30.46% (1992) to 9.54 million or 18.94% (2006) (2) the number of smokers among men and women also declined; for example, the number of men smoking dropped down from 55.63% (1991) to 36.91% (2006), which was a 33.65% decrease, while the number of women smoking decreased from 4.60% (1991) to 2.0% (2006), a 56.52% decrease.

Even though cigarette smoking declined, Thailand also needs seriously to control tobacco consumption as compared to smoking in other developing countries. For example, occasional smoking by women sometimes increased (128.6%) during 1991-2006 indicating that tobacco consumption control did not work effectively in controlling occasional smokers. Besides, 14.89 million people were second hand smokers and 2.28 million of these second hand smokers were children aged 5 years and younger who are exposed to cigarette smoke in their homes.

To achieve aims of tobacco consumption control requires the cooperation of all participants as indicated by the slogan Cooperation in Building Thailand Society without Cigarettes. Therefore,the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center (TRC), Mahidol University, together with the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Health Professional Network for a Smoke-free Thai Society, Non-Smoking Campaign, Thailand Health Promotion Institute, and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation supported the 6th National conference on Tobacco or Health aiming to exchange tobacco control knowledge and expertise as a guide to be applied suitably for individuals, departments, and organizations.