Belize Pushes for Smoke-Free Future

The Ministry of Health, with support from PAHO/WHO, hosted a key workshop in Belize City today aimed at making the country smoke-free. The event is part of a regional push for stronger tobacco laws across Latin America. Belize ratified the WHO’s global tobacco control treaty back in 2005, but officials say it’s time to move from promises to action. The workshop brought together voices from government, civil society, academia, and business to talk strategy. The aim is to reduce tobacco use, still a top preventable killer, and create healthier, smoke-free spaces across Belize.

 

Tanya Arceo, Reporting

In Belize City today, the push for a smoke-free future took center stage. Leaders from government, civil society, academia, and the private sector came together for a high-level workshop hosted by the Ministry of Health & Wellness, with support from PAHO and WHO. The event is part of a regional movement called “Towards a Smoke-Free and Emission-Free Latin America.”  Dr. Andrei Chell put it simply, it’s about saving lives, helping the economy, and making life better for everyone in Belize.

 

Dr. Andrei Chell, Director, Policy Analysis and Planning Unit

“So, it’s a week of activities really to discuss smoke free and emission free initiative in Latin America, we are doing this partnering with PAHO/WHO. Today is a meeting with our partners, multi-sectoral partners that have a role in tobacco control, we have here different government ministries, academias, civil society, the private sector and we’re here really just to discuss our best practices, look at evidence based on research and policies that are in place to promote smoke free and emission free environments, right. As you may know Belize ratified the FCTC which is a framework convention about control in two thousand and five, this is a framework really that sets the policy in place for us as a country to put evidence-based strategies in place to reduce the burden of tobacco use”

 

At today’s workshop, PAHO’s Rosa Carolina Sandoval made a powerful point, cutting back on tobacco and secondhand smoke doesn’t just save lives, it also saves money. She stressed that prevention is key, and the long-term health benefits come with big cost savings for the country’s healthcare system.

 

Rosa Carolina Sandoval, Regional Advisor, PAHO

“I think right now in Latin America and the Caribbean we’re very lucky because we twenty four countries that have already implemented smoke-free laws, they have already banned smoking in bars and restaurants. And right now here in Belize we’re discussing how we can support Belize to move forward in that direction. We have other three countries in Latin America that are yet to approve this smoke free laws and we are here to support them and we are hopeful that in the near future we can say Latin America is smoke-free”

 

With growing momentum behind the regional smoke-free initiative, Belize is now looking to chart a clear path toward protecting public health from tobacco-related harm. As policy discussions continue the hope is to build stronger alliances across sectors to implement smoke-free environments that benefit all Belizeans, today and for generations to come. I am Tanya Arceo for News Five.