Dr. Hadii Mamudu, in the Department of Health Services Management and Policy is the co-author of an article in Medical Anthropology Quarterly . Along with colleagues Andrew Russell and Megan Wrainwright of Durham University in London, England , the article was titled A Chilling Example? Uruguay, Philip Morris International, and WHOs Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Dr. Mamudu and colleagues conducted the first ever observational study of a meeting of the governing body of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Uruguay in 2010. A key issue that emerged during meeting was a debate over the relationship between public health and international trade. This debate followed a lawsuit by Philip Morris International, the world's largest transnational tobacco company, against Uruguay for making and implementing tobacco regulations consistent with the FCTC. The question addressed by the governing body related to whether public health considerations should supersede trade in case of irreconcilable differences or vice versa .
The authors reviewed the discussion and the resulting Punta del Este Declaration. This Declaration called for allowing nation-states to regulate tobacco use in their borders, but called for those regulations to be consistent with international trade rules. Given that tobacco use kills over 6 million people worldwide every year, and about one billion people are expected to die by the end of the 21st Century, the authors argue that public health considerations should carry greater weight than global trade rules in the determination of international policies.
Dr. Mamudu oversees the Tobacco Policy Research Program at ETSU: https://www.etsu.edu/cph/hsmp/tobaccopolicy/default.aspx and has published extensively on issues related to global tobacco policy.
