The Voluntary Health Association of India organized a Orientation Programme for State Partners on Tobacco control - February 4-5, 2009 at the central office of VHAI, New Delhi

The objective was to orient and capacitate the state teams working on the PAT & APPLE (Partnership Against Tobacco: Action for Policies, Politics, Legislation and Empowerment) Project, under the Bloomberg Initiative, in nine state settings across India.  Two representatives each from the nine states of Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala participated in the workshop.

The overall workshop was to train and build the capacity of state teams on current priorities in tobacco control. It also addressed the government initiatives, role of NGOs, policy, media and legal advocacy strategies and discussed the enforcement issues on smoke free at state and district levels. In addition, it also showcases success stories from the first phase of the project. One of the highlights of the workshop was the training sessions conducted by a team from CTFK (Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids) on advancing tobacco control policies, advocacy techniques and their applications.