DUBLIN, IRELAND
23 - 25 JUNE 2025
The World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025 (formerly the World Conference on Tobacco or Health – WCTOH) is organised by International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Epidemics are complex challenges that intersect with various sectors, including taxation, law implementation, agriculture, environmental sustainability, gender, and social equities.
Tobacco control requires a holistic approach that engages various stakeholders and calls for collaborative action across disciplines.
Join us in this call to action at the World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025!
Tobacco kills more than 7 million people a year, mostly in low‐ and middle‐income countries. These are completely preventable deaths. While average smoking rates have declined globally from 22.8% in 2007 to 17% in 2021, 1 billion people still smoke. To address this prevalent issue, the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use helps cities and countries implement measures proven to reduce use and protect people from harm.
We’re proud to partner with Bloomberg Philanthropies to spotlight tobacco control efforts around the world and are excited to announce nominations are now open for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control.
The Union
“This is fantastic news for the whole tobacco control and public health community. The absence of this conference has meant there has been no opportunity for the global tobacco control movement to gather, to report on successes, to share best practice in effective measures to control tobacco, campaign for improved resources and counter the advocacy ambitions of the tobacco industry.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies
“With so many lives at stake, this comes at a critical time for global leaders in tobacco control. We face a number of urgent, overlapping challenges – as tobacco companies try to exploit to burnish their images, and as low- and middle-income countries confront the growing burden of tobacco-related diseases. But, together, we can tackle these challenges – and continue to make life-saving progress with our partners in the fight against tobacco, worldwide.”
Member of Advisory Board
“We are thrilled the World Conference on Tobacco Control will take place in Dublin – it took so much effort and many years to finally make it happen after the pause caused by the pandemics. We have much to learn from each other in tobacco control on our successes and on our failures. Dublin is just the place to facilitate that face-to-face conversation. I look forward to meeting you here in June 2025.”
Co - Chair of the Content Committee
“We are very excited about the program structure and content! Lots of opportunities for engagement and interaction. There is something for everyone, whether you are new to the field or you’ve been fighting the fight for decades.”
Co - Chair of the Content Committee
“As we gather in Dublin, we are reminded of the current increase in tobacco industry interference, cynically targeting youth and vulnerable populations. We need to have an unrelenting focus on evidence-based measures which have proven effective in reducing tobacco consumption. Together, we can build on the momentum we have created over the past decade, ensuring that future generations inherit a world where tobacco use is no longer a public health crisis.”
Dr. Fenton Howell is medical graduate of University College Dublin, Ireland, and completed higher specialist training in Public Health Medicine in 1991. He is the former National Tobacco Control Adviser to the Department of Health, is a Clinical Associate Professor in Public Health in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Trinity College Dublin, and is a board member of the National Cancer Registry Ireland. Dr. Fenton Howell is a Fellow of both the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of Ireland and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He is a past Dean of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of Ireland, and past President of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, the All Ireland Social Medicine Group and the Irish Medical Organization. He has previously served on the boards of ASH Ireland, the Tobacco Free Research Institute, the European Network on Smoking Prevention, the Institute of Public Health in Ireland and the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, and he chaired the Prevention Working Group for the Ireland–Northern Ireland–United States National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium.
Dr. Gan Quan, PhD, is Senior Vice President at Vital Strategies, where he leads the Tobacco Control Division, comprising a global team working with governments and civil society partners around the world to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventive cause of deaths worldwide. The Division has supported work in more than 50 low- and middle-income countries with a focus on evidence-based tobacco control policies and implementation, capacity building, and countering interference from the tobacco industry.
Dr. Gan Quan has more than 15 years of international experience in health system building, policy implementation, government partnership, and policy research. Prior to joining Vital Strategies, Dr. Gan Quan spent 14 years with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), first as Technical Advisor, then Director of China Office, and most recently as Director of Tobacco Control Department. Before joining The Union, Dr. Gan Quan was a research fellow at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at University of California, San Francisco.
