WHO / GLOBAL TOBACCO EPIDEMIC REPORT

STORY: WHO / GLOBAL TOBACCO EPIDEMIC REPORT
TRT: 5:49
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / CREOLE / NATS

DATELINE: 1 JULY 2023, PORT LOUIS AND BALACLAVA, MAURITIUS

SHOTLIST:

1. Drone shot (Mute), views of Port Louis, capital of Mauritius
2. Wide shot, students walk into the University of Mauritius campus
3. Wide shot, students canteen with a non-smoking sign
4. Wide shot, students queue for food in the campus grounds
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Keshav Porahoo, Engineering Student:
“Here in Mauritius, we have different laws that have been implemented for cigarettes smoking. Recently we had the law which was implemented for restriction of smoking in public areas. And personally, I think it’s a very good law, because we are not only protecting those who are smoking, but also we are protecting those who are not smoking, which we call passive smoking.”
6. Wide shot, Women and children wait for WHO Community Health Workers
7. Wide shot, people crossing the street in a central area of Port Louis
8. Med shot, vendor at a central market place with a non-smoking sign in the background
9. Close up, nonsmoking sign in a public market
10. Various shots, bus station with non-smoking signs
11. Wide shot, busy street with a tobacco-vendor shop in the background
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO’s Special Advisor on NCD Protection, former coordinator of the FCTC negotiations:
“Mauritius is one of the few countries that have implemented all of the MPOWER policies at the highest level, what we call “best-practice” level.”
13. Close-up, tobacco packages marked “Tobacco kills” on the counter of a local kiosque.
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO’s Special Advisor on NCD Protection, former coordinator of the FCTC negotiations:
“The package which contains evidence-based interventions to really save lives. Complete bans on smoking in all public places and workplaces, offering help to quit so the whole comprehensive cessation treatment, warnings about the dangers of tobacco use, including campaigns, complete bans on all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship and also very effective but still underutilised is increasing taxes and prices.”
14. Med shot, launch of the Global Tobacco Epidemic report, members posing for a photo with the report
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vinayak Prasad, WHO Head of Tobacco Control Programme:
“The second hand smoke exposure is basically to people who are getting exposed from tobacco smoke. And this leads to a number of health effects, adverse health outcomes, such as cancers, lung disorders etc. So it is basically something that is totally unacceptable. While the governments are working and setting policies to make it difficult for smokers to smoke in public places, indoor public spaces, it’s also important that countries and people, societal shifts take place, so that we don’t have exposure to second hand smoke in private spaces. At the moment we have only 74 which are 100 percent smoke free. And we need to do more.”
16. Drone shot, aerial view of the V ictoria Hospital located in Quatres Bornes
17. Med shot, main entrance to the hospital
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrienne Pizatella, Bloomberg Philanthropies:
“One of the greatest challenges in enacting tobacco control measures is that there is often a strong push back from the tobacco industry to either prevent these measures from being enacted or really undermine these measures. So this report gives a clear outline around what’s important within each measure, that allows countries to reach best practice at every measure and really enact strong tobacco control laws that can’t be undermined by the industry.”
19. Med shot, no-smoking sign in the hospital
20. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Binesh Moty, Tobacco cessation clinic patient:
“I am very motivated (to quit smoking). I have support from my family and also I have support from the clinic here with the good advice I received and tips on how to stop smoking, as well as treatment which is free of charge. In the past you could lit a cigarette anywhere (in Mauritius). Now it's not possible and it's a good thing. So I think the public smoking bans really help, yes.”
21. Wide shot, patients waiting to be admitted for a consultation in a Tobacco cessation clinic, part of Victoria Hospital
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Balkrish Beedassy, Ministry of Health Mauritius, Focal Point on Tobacco Cessation:
“We are the first African country to have ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and it is our mission at the Ministry of Health and Wellness to support all smokers who are smoking in their tobacco cessation goals and treatment. Presently we are having 9 tobacco cessation clinics, including one in Rodrigues island which is our sister island, so we have a decentralisation of tobacco cessation services, free of charge and free of any user charge. This year the promulgation of the new legislation concerning restrictions on tobacco products has been implemented, and we will be going towards plain packaging very soon. So all of these activities are being conducted to scourge the tobacco epidemic in Mauritius.”
23. Wide shot, first time patient is offered free of charge consultation by a council or on how to quit smoking

STORYLINE:

Around 1.3 million people die from second-hand smoke every year. All of these deaths are entirely preventable. People exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke are at risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancers.

The WHO Report on the global tobacco epidemic, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, is focused on protecting the public from second-hand smoke, highlighting that almost 40 percent of countries now have completely smoke-free indoor public places.

One of them is Mauritius, the first country in Africa to have successfully implemented all the MPOWER measures to curb tobacco use in the country.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO’s Special Advisor on NCD Protection, former coordinator of the FCTC negotiations:
"Mauritius is one of the few countries that have implemented all of the MPOWER policies at the highest level, what we call ‘best-practice’ level. The package which contains evidence-based interventions to really save lives. Complete bans on smoking in all public places and workplaces, offering help to quit so the whole comprehensive cessation treatment, warnings about the dangers of tobacco use, including campaigns, complete bans on all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship and also very effective but still underutilized is increasing taxes and prices.”

One of the key initiatives to curb tobacco epidemic in the country is a network of Tobacco Cessation clinics, which are free of charge.

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Balkrish Beedassy, Ministry of Health Mauritius, Focal Point on Tobacco Cessation:
“We are the first African country to have ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and it is our mission at the Ministry of Health and Wellness to support all smokers who are smoking in their tobacco cessation goals and treatment. Presently we are having 9 tobacco cessation clinics, including one in Rodrigues island which is our sister island, so we have a decentralisation of tobacco cessation services, free of charge and free of any user charge.”

Smoke-free environments help people breathe clean air, shield the public from deadly second-hand smoke, motivate people to quit, denormalize smoking and help prevent young people from ever starting to smoke or use e-cigarettes. Eight countries are just one MPOWER policy away from joining the leaders in tobacco control: Ethiopia, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain.

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vinayak Prasad, WHO Head of Tobacco Control Programme:
“The second hand smoke exposure is basically to people who are getting exposed from tobacco smoke. And this leads to a number of health effects, adverse health outcomes, such as cancers, lung disorders etc. So it is basically something that is totally unacceptable.”