A Seventh-day Adventist university has acquired new resources to research and combat tobacco-related illnesses and death in the developing world for the next five years.

World renowned leader in combating tobacco-related diseases, Dr. Linda Hyder Ferry, a faculty member at Loma Linda University since 1985, received a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, United States, for an anti-tobacco campaign in the southeast countries of Cambodia and Laos.

“Our goal is to develop tobacco-control leadership skills in health professionals who work in positions of influence within the government,” says Ferry. She and her staff were one of 11 principal investigators selected for the first International Tobacco and Health Research Capacity Building Program award.

“The time to make a difference is now,” says Ferry. “If we wait another five years, the opportunity to unmask the tactics of the tobacco industry will be lost, along with thousands of lives of people who would not choose to smoke if they knew the truth.”

The five-year plan will first monitor tobacco use among Cambodian medical students. The second phase will monitor the use of tobacco among all adults in the region. Finally, the team will plan policy or interventional research projects in cooperation with government officials based on their local needs.

The team also plans to make contacts with government leaders in neighboring Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand, through networking, training, and research efforts to strengthen tobacco control policies.

“It is possible to slow down the rate of smoking of Asian women and children by changing public opinion through effective public health messages and increasing the price of tobacco before they get addicted,” says Ferry. “That is why we are going so far from home. We want to help improve the health and economic profile of the people of Southeast Asia.”