139th Anniversary International Medical Congress 2026 of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) was held from 22nd – 25th July 2026 at Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Ms. Chinthika Perera, Ms. Sandani Abeyratne and Dr. Buddhi Asantha representing CCT team presented three posters at the conference. Two presentations were related to tobacco taxation in Sri Lanka, which were on tobacco industry tactics to manipulate scientific evidence on taxation and the outcomes of that interference; leading to ineffective taxation. Both were desk reviews that analysed the content of state, industry and other documents on the matter. Third abstract was about availability of prohibited tobacco products in Colombo municipal council area. A “Mystery Shopper” methodology was used to explore 1067 shops in the commercial hubs of all 15 Colombo Municipality areas. Other than availability and accessibility, onsite promotional tactics were also assessed.

The presented posters titled;

1. Manipulating Science to Influence Tobacco taxation in Sri Lanka
2. Is Sri Lanka Using Tobacco Taxation as an Effective Tobacco Control Strategy?
3. Availability and Accessibility of Electronic Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco Products in Colombo City

Participation at the conference was a major success for the CCT, yielding the recognition in addition to knowledge gain and networking.