Background: SPC is a regional organisation based in New Caledonia, with a remit to provide assistance and technical support to Pacific countries and territories (PICTs) in the region. With smoking prevalence in the some countries in the Pacific region being amongst the highest in the world, SPC has a major role in working with PICTS to improve their tobacco control practices and help them to develop best practice legislation and policy, as well as provide them with any assistance with the reporting requirements for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Discussion: Some baseline data on smoking prevalence and other tobacco specific indicators are available in countries that have undertaken STEPS studies or youth surveys on tobacco (GYTS), however such country level data is still limited in its availability. Currently information on tobacco control activity and any accurate stocktake of the current situation in terms of legislation and tobacco policy is unavailable or unreliable. SPC plans to improve access to and the quality of, tobacco control information in the Pacific region. One proposal to support PICTs is a proposal to establish a Tobacco Control Alliance for the Pacific region, recently submitted by SPC to a bi-lateral donor agency. SPC will seek input from PICTs as to the most effective configuration for the formation of such a network.

Conclusion: There is a great deal to be done in the Pacific region, in terms of basic data collection, monitoring, resource provision, and most significantly, in the development of tobacco policy and legislation.