With millions of dollars in its coffers and the chances of partnership with notable public health organisations becoming a mirage by the day, FSFW found another way: give money to a foundation involved with young people. Enter the Conrad Foundation, which holds the annual Conrad Challenge, an innovation and entrepreneurship competition that encourages “young adults to participate in designing the future through purpose-driven education,” according to information on its website.
The FSFW’s 2019 tax return shows that PMI has continued to be the sole funder for its activities. An analysis of the tax return byreveals that the grants and contributions for the year 2019 are not primarily focused on funding scientific research but appear to be in line with the Foundation’s public relations and advocacy strategies.
“This is a misrepresentation of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World , which is an independent, nonprofit, private foundation committed to reducing deaths and diseases caused by smoking. A FSFW spokesperson said the Foundation supports the full implementation of the FCTC and had authored and published papers that cite the need to fill gaps in its implementation.
More than 16,000 people are killed by tobacco-caused diseases in Nigeria every year, according to the Tobacco Atlas. “Epidemiologically, it has been clearly established that smoking increases the risk of developing a smoking-related disease. It has equally been demonstrated that if a smoker quits, the risk of developing a smoking-related disease decreases.