Centre for Combating Tobacco (CCT) is the Sri Lankan tobacco observatory established at the Faculty of Medicine University of Colombo under the Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The aim of the CCT is to monitor the tobacco industry activities related to implementation of Article 5.3 in Sri Lanka and the region. Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is a treaty, an agreement under international law, adopted in May 2003 by the 56th World Health Assembly, of the World Health Organization (WHO). FCTC entered into force from February 2005, legally binding 181 ratifying countries as of 2019. FCTC Article 5.3 requires Parties to protect their public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.

CCT functions as a centre of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo (UCFM) , which is the second oldest medical school in South Asia. UCFM, in addition to hosting the CCT, gives general guidance and technical expertise and acts as the coordinating body in development and maintenance of the Centre. As the leading medical school in the country, armed with its extensive and esteemed academic capacity, UCFM provides a supportive environment to achieve the intended objectives of the CCT, ensuring scientific validity and merit of the information generated and disseminated by the CCT.

The implementation partners of the CCT include; Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC), National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Sri Lanka,the Expert Committee on Tobacco, Alcohol and Illicit Drugs of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) and the World Health Organization(WHO) Country office for Sri Lanka . The project was powered by Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Secretariat and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease while technical assistance was provided by the Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath and the Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco.

1. Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath

The Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) sits within the Department for Health at the University of Bath.  and is part of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS; one of five UK Public Health Research Centers of Excellence). The Group has extensive expertise and experience in undertaking research on the tobacco industry. Since 2011, with funding acquired from Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the Group has conducted a comprehensive industry monitoring project which led to the establishment of a novel dissemination platform, www.TobaccoTactics.org in June 2012. TobaccoTactics team continually monitors and analyses the industry’s political, financial and marketing activity, prioritizes and explores emerging issues in depth and builds TobaccoTactics pages providing background information about organisations, individuals, industry campaigns and tactics.  CCT follows the model introduced by the TCRG for its information portal TobaccoUnmasked.

2. Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UCSF

Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education, is a centre that belongs to University of California San Francisco (UCSF). They have the largest online documents library of internal tobacco industry documents (www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/about/history/). CCT was technically supported by UCSF by providing skills based training in tobacco industry document research and its use in tobacco industry monitoring, understanding the industry’s advertising tactics and generation of counter tactics.

3. National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA)

NATA (www.gov.nata.lk) is the authorised government body that oversees the legal aspects of tobacco and alcohol control activities in Sri Lanka. It is responsible at the national level for enactment and monitoring of implementation of NATA act, the legal framework that guides tobacco and alcohol control in Sri Lanka.

Partnership with NATA improves the access to the information sources and also improves the feasibility of conversion of generated knowledge into policies and actions.

4. Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Expert Committee of Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA)

This is a subcommittee of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (www.slma.lk), the oldest professional association of the medical professionals in Sri Lanka as well as in the Asia. The subcommittee comprises of medical practitioners from various disciplines who are interested and active in the field of prevention of tobacco, alcohol and other drug use in Sri Lanka.

5. Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC)

ADIC (www.adicsrilanka.org) has been engaged in tobacco, alcohol and other drug use prevention activities for around three decades, continuously monitoring the tobacco industry and designing strategies to counterattack and expose tobacco industry interferences. ADIC closely works with NATA, SLMA and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in this regard.

6. International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union)

For nearly 100 years, The Union has drawn from the best scientific evidence and the skills, expertise and reach of its staff, consultants and membership in order to advance solutions to the most pressing public health challenges affecting people living in poverty around the world.

And for the last decade The Union has been working with governments and civil society around the globe providing technical assistance to help introduce and implement policies that are proven to reduce tobacco use – and the disease and poverty it causes. Since 2007 we have worked in more than 50 countries impacting two-thirds of the world’s smokers. Our tobacco control work is founded on the WHO FCTC and supported by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.

7. The Convention Secretariat

The Convention Secretariat is a global authority concerning the implementation of the WHO FCTC. It also works to promote the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. Its main functions aim at supporting the Parties in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention its protocols and guidelines, providing the necessary support to the Conference of the Parties (COP), the governing body of the WHO FCTC, and translating the decisions of the COP, into programme activities.

The Convention Secretariat is an entity hosted by the World Health Organization in Geneva and cooperates with relevant departments of WHO and other competent international organizations and bodies, and non-governmental organizations accredited as observers to the Conference of the Parties.

The work of the Secretariat is governed by Article 24, as well as by the Rules and Procedure and decisions of the COP. The Convention Secretariat has its own workplan and budget, and reports to the Conference of the Parties on its implementation.