The Global Public Health Summit 2026 and 31st Annual Academic Sessions of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka (CCPSL) were held in Colombo from 22nd to 24th July 2026.

Ms. Sandani Abeyratne delivered an oral presentation titled “Tobacco Taxation in Sri Lanka: Analysis of Budget Proposals and their Implementation over Two Decades”. It was an analysis of budget speeches on tobacco taxation following the establishment of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) to assess whether promised tax adjustments were actually enacted. It gained a significant attention from the audience as it not only showed whether we are using tobacco taxation as an effective strategy of tobacco control and how different governments throughout the history used this effective measure of tobacco control.

Ms. Chinthika Perera and Dr. Buddhi Asantha presented two posters. The first presentation was on tobacco industry interference on authorised officers of the NATA Act, the main legislation framework on tobacco control in Sri Lanka. The other was about the availability of e-cigarettes and other nicotine and tobacco products via online platforms in Sri Lanka. The study which used “Mystery Shopper” methodology found 214 online platforms selling such products, which are quite accessible for youth in Sri Lanka.

The presented posters titled;

1. Tobacco Industry Interference on Authorised Officers for Tobacco Control in Sri Lanka
2. Accessibility and Availability of E-cigarettes and other Nicotine Products through Online Platforms in Sri Lanka

Participation at the Summit has been a very successful experience for the CCT and it earned the recognition in addition to knowledge gain and networking.