- $20 Million is allocated for this project from the UK Health Department
The British government’s
Department of Health is committing £15 million ($20 million) to bolster
international support for a tobacco control project in Sri Lanka, which is
believed to have the world’s highest rate of oral cancer among men.
The new project will promote
accelerated implementation of the World Health Organisation Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in low- and middle-income countries, with
Sri Lanka one of just 15 priority countries. British High Commissioner to Sri
Lanka James Dauris said 60 countries applied for support from the WHO.
“Priority countries weren’t
selected on the basis only of need, but also on level of commitment,” he told a
news conference, a statement said. Tobacco use is one of the principal causes
of oral cancer and in Sri Lanka oral cancer is the most common form of male
cancer, Dauris said. “I understand that Sri Lanka is the only country in the
world where this is so.
This alone is a good argument for
investing in change.” Evidence from around the world confirms that effective
measures reduce the burden of tobacco related death and disease, freeing up
money and resource to be spent and invested in more productive ways, he said.
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