March 3, 2010
The Institute for Global Tobacco Control (IGTC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health now offers training in all six official United Nations languages. The translated learning course, “Global Tobacco Control: Learning from the Experts” is available in Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and Chinese, as well as English. The content is available free of charge at GlobalTobaccoControl.org, a site funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. “The translated content is the result of three years of work to develop a web-based resource that provides the latest in tobacco control education to tobacco control professionals around the world. Now, scientists, policymakers, activists and others can access the updated course in Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and Chinese, as well as English,” said David Holtgrave, PhD, director of IGTC and chair of the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health, Behavior and Society. “It is an honor and privilege to provide this service to the world. Now we can truly work with our colleagues from around the globe to achieve our goal of reducing the burden of death and disease caused by tobacco use.” First launched in English in 2007, www.GlobalTobaccoControl.org features interactive coursework, free instructional training to policy makers, researchers, educators and the public. Online, participants will learn to develop and implement effective tobacco control programs, advocate for anti-smoking regulations and craft media campaigns that make a difference. To date, more than 3,000 users have registered for the comprehensive course. “This marks an exciting step forward in our efforts to eradicate tobacco use as the leading cause of preventable death in the world,” says Kelly Henning, MD, director of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. “Now tobacco control professionals around the globe will have equal access to the most updated training and education in their own languages.” The 10 multimedia educational modules that currently make up the site feature tobacco control experts from around the world. Users now have the opportunity to select language preference upon entering the site. Five tobacco control experts worked with IGTC researchers to ensure precise translation. Each expert was a native speaker in one of the target languages and reviewed the translations to make certain they were accurate and used current tobacco control terminology. GlobalTobaccoControl.org is a leading effort by the Bloomberg School to use the Internet as a means of transferring health knowledge to professionals around the world. Public Affairs media contact for JHSPH: Tim Parsons at 410-955-7619 or tmparson@jhsph.edu. If you would like to support tobacco control research or our students, you can make a contribution here. | 
