Vital Strategies participates in several initiatives that aim to achieve particular goals in tobacco control.
Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use Grants Program
The Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use seeks to shrink the global demand for tobacco through a comprehensive, proven approach that combines policy change with increased public awareness. Vital Strategies and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids jointly manage the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use Grants Program, which awards funds to projects delivering high-impact tobacco control interventions in low- and middle-income countries.
STOP
STOP is a network of academic and public health organizations operating globally as part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. STOP exposes and counters the tobacco industry’s tactics—the root of the tobacco epidemic.
Tobacco Cessation Program
In 2023, we launched a grants program to support projects to strengthen tobacco cessation services. This grants program is a subset of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. These grants aim to achieve population-level impact and improve the availability and sustainability of evidence-based cessation services in a given country’s health system. Funded projects fill an identified gap in the current ecosystem of tobacco cessation services by following one or more of these population-level cessation strategies:
- Tobacco cessation brief counseling
- National toll-free tobacco cessation quitline
- Cessation services
The Global Implementation Program
While many countries have made huge progress in tobacco control in recent years by adopting strong policies, low compliance rates can mean that these policies are not protecting people in the way they should. Launched in 2018 with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Global Implementation Program supports seven cities across China, Indonesia, India and Pakistan, working with city governments to increase compliance with smoke-free laws and tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) bans, particularly at the point of sale.
TERM
Our Tobacco Enforcement and Reporting Movement (TERM) is an AI-powered, expert-driven crowdsourced monitoring system built in response to the industry seizing on the power of digital platforms. TERM tracks and analyzes tobacco marketing using news and social media listening. It currently operates in India, Indonesia and Mexico and releases issue briefs and situation reports on an ongoing basis.