Public Health & Tobacco Summit Asia (PHATSA)

We are delighted to announce the inaugural Public Health & Tobacco Summit Asia (PHaTSA), which will take place in Malaysia  at Le Meridien Hotel, in Kuala Lumpur on July 12th, 2023.

Tobacco use is the single greatest preventable cause of death in the world today, and represents a major public health catastrophe. Despite admirable advances in reducing smoking rates in the past decades in many developed countries, the smoking prevalence rate has stagnated, especially in the developing world, which bears the biggest burden of the 6 million deaths every year caused by smoking-related illnesses. Recent advances in science, technology and innovation have provided potentially useful interventions to further reduce smoking rates.  Considered and rational use of these new interventions, with the appropriate regulations and close, holistic integration with existing strategies to reduce both demand and supply of tobacco products, could go a long way towards achieving the ultimate aspirational goal of a smoke-free world. Health equity remains as the ultimate goal of global public health and the Summit aims to bring all key stakeholders together to engage in open, civil and constructive dialogue, in the spirit of international solidarity and goodwill, to collectively come up with innovative policies and solutions to achieve the laudable moral aim of the highest possible level of health for all people.