Participants at FCA's shadow report training workshop in AFRO. Click for larger image (c) FCA
FCA held a shadow report training workshop with its local host, the Uganda National Tobacco Control Alliance (UNTCA), on 12-13 March 2012 in Kampala, Uganda.

The goals of the event were to:

• Brief FCA AFRO partners that are preparing national shadow reports in 2012 on the Alliance's shadow reporting programme;
• Train them on the data collection methodology for the FCA AFRO Regional Shadow Report;

Photo (c) Tosin Orogun.Tobacco control advocates and officials met last week in Benin to discuss how to strengthen tobacco taxes in the west African nation and surrounding region. 

The low prices of tobacco products in Benin translate into a high consumption rate, said Dr. Judith Segnon-Agueh, Tobacco Control Focal Point in the Benin Ministry of Health.

Several prominent US business organisations are threatening retaliation against New Zealand if it introduces plain tobacco packaging.

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) President Matthew Myers says this threat is appalling, and sends the wrong message globally about the priorities of American businesses, which oppose life-saving measures and instead support an industry whose products kill people.

Read on for the full CTFK press release.

Billboard for a 2010 concert in Indonesia. (c) Anne Jones, The UnionTobacco control regulations recently announced by Indonesia are a move in the right direction but much more needs to be done, said The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) on 23 April.

"It is not a stringent regulation in comparison to the region, but it is certainly moving in the right direction," the organisation said in a statement.

Particularly welcome are announced pictorial health warnings that will cover 40 percent of packages; however, that still leaves Indonesia lagging behind its neighbours in ASEAN, added SEATCA.