Capacity building in tobacco control using a network of local tobacco control offices in Mexico

Mexico was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The National Institute of Public Health (INSP), Mexico, and the Institute for Global Tobacco Control has a long history of collaboration, which includes a joint Tobacco Control summer course conducted since 2000. In Mexico, tobacco control activities are coordinated by the National Council against Addictions (CONADIC), an institution within the Ministry of Health that has worked in many projects in the past with the INSP. CONADIC has a local office in every Mexican state for the State Council against Addictions (CECAs), which works as the local tobacco control office. The main objective was to determine the density of points-of-purchase of cigarettes and of tobacco advertisements in areas surrounding more than 250 secondary schools in 12 cities of Mexico that participated in the Global Youth Tobacco Survey in 2006. They also assessed the availability of the sale of single cigarettes. In June 2008, a data analysis workshop was conducted with the participants from the 12 CECAs. During the workshop the participants wrote a report with main findings from their cities. The report as well as a short power point presentation and a press note are materials that they used to present the result to local authorities. This presentation will discuss the opportunities and challenges of conducting research in collaboration with local tobacco control offices in Mexico. This study was part of our tobacco control capacity building training grant funded by the Fogarty International Center.