Module overview
Module 4:
Time to Act
50 min 32 sec
Speaker
Prof. Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit, MD. FRCP.
Executive Director
Action of Smoking and Health Foundation Thailand (ASH Thailand)
Advisor
Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth)
Dr Prakit Vathesatogkit is an experienced tobacco control advocate who has long served the Thai Government as a tobacco control advisor, and former Dean of Ramathibodi Medical School of Mahidol University. He has served as executive secretary to the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation, Thailand since 1986, and he is currently the Vice Chair of the SEATCA Board. In recognition of his determination and skill at providing tobacco control and medical service, he was popularly elected to the Thai Senate in 2006.
He has been involved with all aspects of tobacco control advocacy and tobacco policy, regulation, and enforcement, and has served as a spokesperson for tobacco control for more than 30 years. He has played a pivotal role in tobacco tax policy formulation for the Thai Government since 1993. Dr Prakit has won numerous tobacco control awards including the first Luther Terry Award for exemplary leadership in tobacco control in 2000, and was awarded the 2022 Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health for his work in tobacco control. He continues to be engaged in tobacco control through his education and wise counsel to junior health professionals.
He has served as a key facilitator in the working group for drafting Guidelines on Article 5.3 and Article 6 of The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). He also provides assistance and advice to many countries on policy advocacy for tobacco control, as well as assisting in the drafting of tobacco control-related legislation.
Dr Prakit has extended the reach of his expertise far and wide by helping to establish and serving on the Board and as a senior advisor of the Thailand Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), a statutory autonomous state agency, with a budget from a 2 % surcharge of tobacco and alcohol taxes to fund tobacco, alcohol and other health promotion activities since 2001. He has been very actively engaged in advocacy and knowledge sharing in the setting up of health promotion foundations funded by tobacco and alcohol taxes both regionally and globally. Dr Prakit is also a Special Advisor to the International Network of Health Promotion Foundations.