GENEVA, Switzerland, 29 May 2006 - The
World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) joins more than 170 organisations
and alliances worldwide to support the UICC Global Smokefree Partnership’s
countdown campaign for a smokefree World Cup 2006 in Germany.
On behalf of the physicians, nurses, dentist and pharmacists of the
world, the WHPA calls in an open letter to Fédération Internationale
de Football Association (FIFA) for a reinstatement
of a memorandum of cooperation signed by the World Health Organization (WHO)
and FIFA prior to the 2002 World Cup. In the memorandum, WHO and FIFA
agreed “that tobacco and
sports do not mix and that tobacco in any form must be removed from all football
events associated with FIFA.”
World Cup 2006 will be televised internationally to billions of people,
of all ages and races. It is important that the image promoted by FIFA
is one that encompasses a healthy competitive spirit, not to be overshadowed
by the unhealthy, life-threatening habit of smoking.
The WHPA supports
the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first
public health treaty which contains a host of measures designed to reduce
the devastating health and economic impact of tobacco.
For more information about the Global SmokeFree Partnership:
http://www.globalsmokefreepartnership.org
Editor’s Note: