Our Campaigns Reach More Than Two Billion People in a Decade of Improving Global Health

Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”

(December 22nd, 2015, New York, USA) World Lung Foundation (WLF) today published a report on its first decade of activity in the field of global health.  Entitled “Activity Report 2005-2015”, the report details how the organization initially developed its expertise in tobacco control and lung health and is now utilizing its core competencies in the areas of maternal health, obesity and road safety as well as its original areas of focus. 

Among the impressive achievements highlighted in the report, are: 

1. WLF has provided US $283 million in grants to help fight the global tobacco epidemic
2. WLF has helped to effect change through campaigns or training initiatives in 96 countries
3. Anti-tobacco campaigns created and implemented with support from WLF have reached more than 2 billion people around the world
4. These campaigns have been tested in 24 countries to ensure their effectiveness and have run in 26 languages to help ensure that everyone, everywhere is aware of the harms of tobacco
5. WLF matches campaign plans to the local market and has actively used social media, particularly to reach youth. A recent social media campaign in Indonesia reached 27 million people
6. WLF has trained 3,800 people from more than 90 countries in strategic health communication
7. There have been 300,000 unique visitors to the tobaccoatlas.org website, the online companion to The Tobacco Atlas, the world’s most authoritative resource on the tobacco epidemic
8. A WLF-supported anti-obesity campaign in Mexico helped to support the introduction of a soda tax that experts believe resulted in a 6 percent decrease in soda consumption
9. 128,000 babies have been born in 15 WLF-supported health facilities in Tanzania, where WLF has trained 800 healthcare workers to provide emergency obstetric care
10. There has been a 52 percent increase in the use of WLF-supported health facilities in the Kigoma region of Tanzania, helping to halve maternal deaths
11. The East Africa Training Initiative has already tripled the number of public sector lung health specialists to serve 92 million people in Ethiopia and served as the inspiration for the foundation of the Ethiopian Thoracic Society
12. WLF actively lobbied for the inclusion of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and for high tobacco taxes to be a recommended source of domestic funding for sustainable development

José Luis Castro, President & CEO, the Union North America and World Lung Foundation said: 

“The impressive achievements detailed within this report reflect the vision and commitment of our donors and partners and the dedication, determination and expertise of our global team over the past decade. There is much to be proud of – innovations and successes that have saved many lives already. However, much more still needs to be done.

“Achievements in reducing smoking prevalence are countered by global population growth which means the absolute burden of tobacco remains too high. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development commits governments to making much-needed progress across a wide range of health indicators, but change is necessary and health systems will need to be strengthened in order to meet those targets. As we enter our second decade, we stand ready to work with governments to continue the fight against preventable premature death and disease and remain committed to improving the well-being of all people, everywhere.”

The full report is also available online.