Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”
(Paris, France) – World Lung Foundation (WLF) will display a series of innovative communications resources and tools for tobacco control when the 39th Union World Conference on Lung Health convenes today. Among the tools on display will be a Tobacco Control Mass Media Resource Kit, which is designed to help campaign development. In conference sessions, WLF will discuss recent television advertisements made in China, India, Turkey and Mexico as part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. Additionally, WLF's booth will display an online library of images that show the scale of lung health problems around the world.
Mass Media Resource Kit
The newly revised Mass Media Resource Kit contains hard hitting television ads that were selected for their effectiveness and potential for adaptation in other countries. This resource, available both online and on DVD, will be expanded to include tools to help governments and tobacco control advocates develop measurable campaigns.
Mass Media Campaign Development
WLF will present the process of developing a rigorous mass media campaign at a poster session on Saturday, October 18 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Additionally, Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President, Communications, will chair a panel called ‘A Picture Paints A Thousand Words: Re‐Imaging Tobacco' on October 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Lung Health Image Library
WLF will also display the Lung Health Image Library, an online collection of several thousand photographs related to lung health worldwide. The Image Library focuses on topics like tuberculosis, asthma, air pollution, and tobacco, and offers royalty‐free images to journalists and activists. “Tobacco kills one person every six seconds, and lung disease kills 10 million people each year. Shockingly, millions of people around the world are unaware of these facts, and still don't know that smoking causes illness, disability, and even death,” said Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President, Communications, World Lung Foundation. “Well‐planned and executed communications can shift this lack of knowledge, boost prevention, support government policies and promote quitting tobacco use.”
The theme of the Union conference, taking place October 16 to 20, 2008, is “Global threats to lung health: the importance of health system responses.”