'Exemplary Leadership award' to India's Health Ministry

Washington, July 14 (UNI) India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Department of Health and Children, Republic of Ireland, have been selected for the 2006 Luther L Terry Award of The American Cancer Society(ACS) for its remarkable efforts to tobacco control globally.

The ACS while announcing the awards said the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, headed by Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, will be given the award in the category of ''Exemplary Leadership by a Government Ministry''.

Dr Ramadoss, who is in Washington DC, will receive the award on behalf of his Ministry tonight at a ceremony to be held at the Washington Convention Center here.

The ACS announcement said India's Health and Family Welfare Ministry was a model to which other nations may aspire. The Ministry had demonstrated its unrelenting stance on health promotion and tobacco control through its support to a comprehensive national tobacco control policy as spelt out by the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), currently ratified by 125 countries, including Chad, China, Greece and Malaysia.

The Ministry's vision for tobacco control extends beyond legislation and its support to non-government organisations engaged in tobacco control proves its commitment to the tobacco control movement, a release of the ACS said.

The awards are named after the United States Surgeon General Luther L Terry, MD, who authored the landmark 1964 Surgeon General's Report, which connected tobacco use to lung cancer and other illnesses. Dr Terry's notable work established the foundation for public health scrutiny of the dangers of tobacco use.

The awards are presented triennially. The initial awards were presented at the 11th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Chicago, Illinois, US in 2000 and again at the 12th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Helsinki, Finland in 2003.

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