Experts evaluated WHO's proposals on tobacco control in the CIS

The desire of the World Health Organization (WHO) to influence the process of harmonization of legislation of the CIS countries in the fight against bad habits seems excessive, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe. This is how they reacted to the WHO's development of a model anti-smoking law for the CIS countries.

Meetings of the permanent commissions of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, in which parliamentarians from the CIS countries and representatives of international organizations will discuss the results and prospects of developing model laws, will be held on October 9-10 in St. Petersburg. Among the key events is a session on the draft law "On the protection of citizens' health from exposure to tobacco smoke and the consequences of consumption of tobacco and other nicotine—containing products", developed by the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO Europe).

According to sources involved in the development of the model Law, WHO Europe has received a number of comments on the content of the document. They were expressed by parliamentarians and delegations of the countries during the meetings of the IPA CIS Commission on Social Policy and Human Rights and three expert councils. However, by now a significant part of them remains unaccounted for.

"WHO's intention to get involved in the creation of model legislation in the CIS may be due to the desire to push its approaches to as many international and regional organizations and platforms as possible," says Mikhail Perelman, Associate Professor of Management at the Moscow Regional Branch of the RANEPA. He attributed this to the serious reputational costs for WHO caused by criticism from a number of countries, including the United States, which entail significant financial losses for the organization's budget.

According to him, taking into account the motives of WHO, when developing this model law, it is important, first of all, to remain committed to national interests. It makes sense to take into account the sectoral legislation implemented at the national level of the CIS member states and the best practices applied by them, Perelman believes.

The CIS members have already assumed obligations under the relevant conventions of other organizations and institutions, the experts noted. Thus, the countries of the commonwealth are already full parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which have committed themselves to implementing its provisions.

Currently, the CIS countries are at various stages of bringing national regulation in line with the convention, says Nadezhda Kapustina, Professor at the Department of Economic Security and Risk Management at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. "Thus, the involvement of the organization in the process of harmonizing such regulation looks excessive and may be due to the desire to achieve the formal targets set by the WHO leadership to promote its expertise in the work of various regional platforms, in particular the CIS," the expert added.

So, speaking last year at the X session of the WHO FCTC Conference of the Parties in Panama, Oleg Salagai, Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, stressed that Russia was included in the list of countries with policies that most protect their citizens from tobacco. Strict anti—smoking legislation is also in force in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia, the CIS countries that have long been parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and some of them participated in its creation.

In 2023, WHO/Europe announced the closure of the Moscow office for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Up to this point, Russia has allocated about $50 million for its financing.

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