2023 Annual Report
A Forward-LookingRetrospective
We are accelerating comprehensive, science-based global efforts to end the smoking epidemic, with a focus on marginalized communities and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Chair of the Board Letter
Pamela Parizek
I write this letter with tremendous pride for the year we accomplished and incredible excitement for what’s ahead. The organization that I had the honor of joining the board of six years ago has made more progress in 2023 than ever before and reinvigorated our efforts to end smoking.
We have done this in part by transforming the organization into the reimagined Global Action to End Smoking. Under the leadership of our new CEO, Clifford Douglas, our organization will lead the way as a public health foundation committed to cessation education and research that compassionately focuses on the needs of people who smoke.
Cliff is a tobacco-control veteran with 36 years of experience. I am confident that under his leadership, we will accelerate our progress against the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. Cliff’s joining the organization in October 2023, followed by the ending of our funding agreement and adoption of a new formal policy not to accept tobacco or non-medicinal nicotine industry funding in the future, reflect our powerful commitment to advancing more progress in global smoking cessation.
As we move forward as Global Action, we are eager to continue funding grants to advance life-saving research and programs. We will continue to support this work and disseminate findings broadly, including directly to people who smoke to empower them to reduce their risks of smoking-related death and disease.
Our grantees’ work in 2023 demonstrates that misconceptions about nicotine and the relative risk of nicotine products are impeding progress in ending the smoking epidemic. We were proud to provide a grant to make possible the Doctors’ Survey, a project from the independent platform Sermo, that found most physicians worldwide incorrectly believe that nicotine causes the devastating health conditions related to smoking. The Survey also found that the majority of these physicians also believe that helping patients who smoke quit is a priority – a goal we share.
This paradox shows that to make the greatest progress to end the smoking epidemic, we need to redouble our efforts on education while strengthening our commitment to research to find workable solutions for those in disadvantaged communities and in low- and middle-income countries.
It is a privilege to work with our talented grantees, the Global Action team, and my fellow Board members. You all have my heartfelt gratitude for your continued support and efforts to work toward our important goal of improving public health and accelerating research to save lives.
Pamela Parizek
Board Chair
A Letter From Our CEO
Cliff Douglas
2023 was marked by incredible change at Global Action to End Smoking. First and foremost is our name: After six years as the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, we have reintroduced ourselves to the world under a new name that reflects our new comprehensive public health focus and approach to ending the global smoking epidemic.
Additionally, there were several changes to the organization – including my appointment as CEO and President. This has been a natural continuation of my decades-long commitment to tobacco control. Global Action is filling an unmet need by supporting holistic scientific research into smoking cessation and accelerating the end of this terrible epidemic, while disseminating the best, evidence-based information to empower people who smoke to quit.
In 2023, Health and Science Research remained the primary focus of our grantmaking efforts. One of those efforts was the Doctors’ Survey funded by a Global Action grant: This survey, conducted by the independent platform, Sermo, found that nearly two-thirds of 15,000 physicians across 11 countries mistakenly believe that nicotine causes the devastating health consequences of smoking. We are proud to support additional grantees working to correct such misunderstanding, including the Alternative Research Institute in Pakistan. This program, and the others we support, focus on educating health care practitioners and people who smoke about the relative risks of nicotine products.
It is clear to me that this next phase of ending smoking globally will be marked by clearing the air around the rampant misinformation – and intentional disinformation – around nicotine. We cannot solve a problem until all stakeholders – people who smoke, health care providers, and policy makers – fully understand it.
This is why, as Global Action moves forward, we will put a new focus on communicating directly with people who smoke to educate them about cessation solutions and risk minimization. We have the opportunity to significantly improve public health by leading the charge in providing people who want to quit with clear, comprehensive, science-backed information on the best tools at their disposal. For those who are unwilling or unable to otherwise quit smoking, we can help them move as far down the continuum of risk as possible to minimize their risk of serious illness and early death. These two strategies will work harmoniously as we redouble our efforts to end smoking worldwide.
Even before the end of 2023, this reaffirmed commitment to people who smoke was noticed by major news media, including the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Reuters. I am confident that as we gain momentum in our new era, the impact of our public health leadership will increasingly be felt across the globe.
I am immensely proud of and grateful for the work that we and our global partners have done to set up Global Action for success in 2024 and beyond. Together, we will continue to make strides in the fight against the global smoking epidemic.
Cliff Douglas
Chief Executive Officer
Our Mission is to End Smoking
Combustible tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. We are committed to improving global health by funding innovative research and initiatives that address the scientific and educational gaps related to smoking and cessation, with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries.
Our vision is a world where death and disease related to smoking are eliminated: a world where people who smoke have the education and tools they need to reduce their risk and are fully supported in their cessation journeys.
Global Action Focuses on Three Main Subject Areas
Agricultural Transformation
Addressing the economic consequences of the global decline of smoking on smallholder tobacco farmers in Malawi by supporting their efforts to identify, cultivate and market tobacco alternatives and sustainable livelihoods.
We are accelerating comprehensive, science-based global efforts to end the smoking epidemic, with a focus on marginalized communities and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
© 2023 Annual Report Global Action to End Smoking. All Rights Reserved. (formerly “Foundation for a Smoke-Free World”)