London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

LSHTM's Public and Environmental Health Research Unit (PEHRU) has won a WHO Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of its outstanding contribution towards tobacco control.

Professor Joy Townsend has been singled out in particular for being the first to identify how smoking is increasingly a habit of the poor (in 1978) and for her contribution to the understanding of how health inequalities as a result of smoking can be reduced.

In relation to her work, the Certificate states:

‘This work is published and used worldwide (BMJ, Lancet, etc) and presented at international meetings, including the WHO European Ministerial Conference in Warsaw and the EU Health Ministers meeting during the process leading up to the WHO FCTC. It was used by the World Bank to suggest ways of reducing smoking in poor and middle income countries.

‘She has worked collaboratively on how smoking reduces income for food, causing deaths through malnutrition in poor countries. PEHRU also carries out pioneering research on the tobacco industry in South-East Asia based on analysis of tobacco industry’s internal documents; the research has examined how the industry targets vulnerable populations including by ethnicity and socioeconomic status and the implications for health equity. It also carries out important research and teaching on health promotion to reduce smoking’.

Congratulations to PEHRU and to Joy, who was also previously awarded a medal by WHO for the contribution to world health of her work on tobacco economics.