WHO leadership training in Lyon targets stubborn barriers to tobacco control
WHO Representatives and Heads of Country Offices from 13 countries met at the WHO Academy in Lyon, France, for the sixth Executive Leadership Programme for Tobacco Control, a two-day effort focused on turning diplomatic skill into public health action. The gathering brought together senior leaders from the African, Eastern Mediterranean and European Regions, with colleagues from regional offices, headquarters and the WHO Academy, in a format designed to strengthen the practical machinery behind national tobacco control work.
The setting mattered because tobacco policy rarely fails on science alone. In many countries, the evidence base for taxation, warning labels, advertising restrictions and enforcement is already established; progress slows when political resistance, industry pressure and fragmented execution stall implementation. The programme centered on those friction points and on the leadership tools needed to move policy from paper to practice.
“Tobacco control is not only a technical agenda. Progress depends on leadership – the ability to navigate complex environments, build alliances and seize opportunities for change,” said Dr Vinayak Prasad, Unit Head of the Tobacco-Free Initiative. His framing placed leadership on the same level as regulation, finance and enforcement, because each depends on the others when governments try to reduce tobacco use at scale.
Taxation, enforcement and new nicotine products shaped the policy agenda
The programme combined strategic discussion with practical leadership development. Participants exchanged country experiences and examined how to strengthen tobacco taxation, how to respond to emerging nicotine and tobacco products, and how to improve the enforcement of existing measures. Those three themes reflect the current pressure points in tobacco control: pricing policy remains one of the most effective demand-reduction tools, novel products continue to challenge regulatory systems, and even well-written laws lose force when inspection and compliance are weak.
Industry interference also received sustained attention. Tobacco companies and their affiliates routinely work to delay regulation, dilute enforcement or reframe nicotine products as harmless consumer goods. In that environment, the public health response requires more than technical knowledge of tobacco epidemiology. It requires negotiation, coalition-building and the ability to keep ministries, legislators, regulators and civil society aligned when political conditions shift.
One sentence captures the urgency of the work: tobacco control advances slowly when enforcement is treated as optional.
Leadership skills were treated as public health infrastructure
The training placed unusual weight on the mechanics of influence. WHO Representatives sharpened skills in negotiation, trust-building, persuasion and leadership through complexity and change. That emphasis reflects the reality that country offices often operate at the intersection of diplomacy, technical advice and government relations. A representative may know exactly which policy lever matters most, yet still need to persuade finance officials, health ministries, parliamentarians or local enforcement agencies to act.
Practical media training formed another part of the programme. Simulated interviews helped participants practice communicating tobacco-control priorities clearly and persuasively to different audiences. In tobacco control, public messaging is not ornamental. Clear communication can strengthen political support for taxation, defend regulation against industry pushback and explain why enforcement against illicit marketing or unlawful product promotion remains a health priority rather than a bureaucratic exercise.
The program also recognized that the consumption pattern itself is changing. As nicotine delivery products evolve, regulators face a moving target that can outpace existing legal frameworks. That creates a specific bedside-equivalent challenge for public health systems: prevention must adapt before new products normalize dependence in younger populations or undermine years of progress against smoking.
Peer learning across WHO regions aimed to turn global commitments into national action
Beyond the individual training sessions, the programme stressed collaboration across WHO’s three levels: country offices, regional offices and headquarters. That coordination is central to how global tobacco-control commitments become national policy. Country teams need regionally informed strategy, headquarters support, and local credibility to translate broad goals into laws, enforcement routines and sustained political commitment.
Participants described the value of hearing directly from colleagues who had faced similar barriers in different settings. Dr Shenaaz El-Halabi, WHO Representative to South Africa, said the opportunity to learn from other WHO Representatives was especially valuable because it exposed not only what had worked, but also the obstacles they encountered and how they navigated them. Her comment reflected a practical truth in public health governance: the same policy may require different tactics in different political systems, even when the evidence does not change.
What emerged from the meeting was not a new clinical intervention or a novel regulatory instrument, but something equally important for population health: leadership capacity. Tobacco control depends on sustained institutional effort, and that effort weakens when country offices lack the networks and strategic confidence to press for implementation. A two-day programme cannot resolve those structural problems on its own, but it can sharpen the people who must solve them.
The sixth edition of the programme extends WHO’s wider commitment to equipping country leaders with the skills, networks and strategic tools needed to overcome industry influence and reinforce political commitment. The hard questions remain in the countries where tobacco taxation is incomplete, enforcement is inconsistent and new nicotine products are arriving faster than regulations can adapt. The real test will be whether the strengthened leadership emerging from Lyon changes what happens next in ministries, parliaments and enforcement offices.