ASH Scotland Chief Executive Sheila Duffy has tonight [Thursday 2 April] congratulated Prof Judith Mackay for receiving the BMJ Group’s inaugural special Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in tobacco control across the world, especially in China and Asia. Prof Mackay has a keen interest in tobacco control in Scotland as she is a regular visitor to the country after receiving her medical training in Edinburgh. Commenting, Sheila Duffy said:
“This award is very special for two reasons, it honours the great work of Prof Judith Mackay and it was voted for by readers of the BMJ.
“Judith’s tireless work has made a huge difference to the tobacco policies of governments across the world and she has been a vocal and eloquent anti-smoking campaigner, even in the teeth of vilification and direct threats from the tobacco industry and its allies. Judith has consistently highlighted the dangers of tobacco especially in the developing world and she courageously took on the tobacco companies at a time when no-one else was doing so.
“Judith’s contribution to tobacco control is far reaching. She was instrumental in bringing about the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, drawn up between all 192 member states of the WHO and designed to restrict the burgeoning harmful impacts of tobacco promotion and consumption internationally.
“Judith is also co-author of the Tobacco Atlas. This comprehensive publication sets out clearly how tobacco is devastating global health and economies, and how the burden of tobacco related disease is shifting to low income countries. It also shows how the tobacco control measures we pioneer in Scotland are a vital and much needed inspiration to countries that are struggling to resist the predatory influences of the tobacco companies.
“Judith is absolutely right when she says that public health is often the ‘poor relation to curative medicine’ but it is just as essential because it is an investment in our future. On behalf of everyone working in tobacco control in Scotland, I'd like to congratulate Judith on her achievements and her much deserved award, and thank her for her pioneering and inspiring work.”
Sheila Duffy is available for pre-recorded and live interviews on ISDN. For further information please contact Jeanette Campbell on 0131 220 9466. For further information please contact Richard Price on 07703 486522.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
1. ASH Scotland is an independent Scottish charity working in partnership to protect people from the harm caused by tobacco. Registered Scottish charity number SC 010412.
2. More information on the BMJ awards can be obtained from Richard Price, Say Communications Tel 07703 486522 / 0208 971 6420.
3. Professor Judith Mackay
Professor Judith Mackay completed her medical training in Edinburgh and is now based in Hong Kong. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and London.
Prof Mackay was a lone voice when she started work in tobacco control and campaigning against the tobacco industry in Asia in 1984. The impact of her activities was illustrated by her being labelled “one of the three most dangerous people in the world” by the industry only five years later and being voted one of Time magazine’s “60 Asian Heroes” in 2006. In 2007 she was named as one of Time magazine’s 100 World’s Most Influential People.
Since becoming a full-time public health advocate in 1984, Professor Mackay has worked with most of the governments in the Western Pacific, especially in China, to help them establish national tobacco control legislation and taxation policies.
At a global level, she is a consultant to the World Health Organization and was instrumental in developing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which is now ratified by 162 countries. She is currently director of the Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control, senior advisor to the World Lung Foundation, and senior advisor to WHO and a range of tobacco control organisations throughout Asia.
Judith holds professorships at the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine in Beijing and the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Judith Mackay has received many international awards, including the WHO Commemorative Medal, Royal Awards from the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II and Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the Fries Prize for Improving Health, the Luther Terry Award for Outstanding Individual Leadership, the International Partnering for World Health Award, the Founding International Achievement Award from the Asia Pacific Association for the Control of Tobacco, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Network of Women Against Tobacco.