Background The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the MPOWER package to support policy implementation under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This study examined the effect of MPOWER policies on smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption in a global context. Methods The MPOWER composite score was constructed by adding up the six MPOWER scores for each country and survey year 2007–2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014, with a possible range between 6 (1 in each of the six score) and 29 (4 in M score and 5 in POWER scores). MPOWER composite scores that measured policy implementation were then linked to cigarette smoking prevalence and consumption data from Euromonitor International. Fractional logit and OLS regressions were employed to examine the effect of the composite MPOWER score on adult smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption, respectively. Results Results indicate that a 1-unit increase in the composite score reduces smoking prevalence by 0.2 percentage points (p<0.05) among adults and 0.3 percentage points (p<0.01) among adult males; and a reduction of 23 sticks of cigarette (1 pack of cigarettes) in cigarette consumption per capita per year. At this rate, if countries had implemented the MPOWER package to the highest levels during 2007–2014, they would have experienced a reduction in smoking prevalence of 7.26 % among adults and 7.87% among adult males and a reduction of 13.80% in cigarette consumption. Conclusions MPOWER policies were effective in reducing cigarette smoking among adults. Parties should continue to implement MPOWER policies that have been recommended by the WHO FCTC to curb tobacco epidemic.

Background: In 2011, the courts ruled in favor of tobacco companies in preventing the implementation of graphic warning labels (GWLs) in the US, stating that FDA had not established the effectiveness of GWLs in reducing smoking. Methods: Data came from various sources: the WHO MPOWER package (GWLs, MPOWER policy measures, cigarette prices), Euromonitor International (smoking prevalence, cigarette consumption), and the World Bank database (countries’ demographic characteristics). The datasets were aggregated and linked using country and year identifiers. Fractional logit regressions and OLS regressions were applied to examine the associations between GWLs and smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption, controlling for MPOWER policy scores, cigarette prices, GDP per capita, unemployment, population aged 15–64 (%), aged 65 and over (%), year indicators, and country fixed effects. Results: GWLs were associated with a 0.9–3 percentage point decrease in adult smoking prevalence and were significantly associated with a reduction of 230–287 sticks in per capita cigarette consumption, compared to countries without GWLs. However, the association between GWLs and cigarette consumption became statistically insignificant once country indicators were included in the models. Conclusions: The implementation of GWLs may be associated with reduced cigarette smoking.

This article argues that the lived experiences and challenges of the Vietnamese community in Toronto are not reflected in the social work literature that continues to represent them as exceptional refugees. Over forty years after the fall of Saigon, a qualitative research study, “Discrimination in the Vietnamese Community, Toronto,” reveals that the Vietnamese community continues to experience intergroup conflicts stemming from war- and displacement-mediated identities of region, class, and temporal periods of migration. A critical review of the social work literature, using the theoretical lens of critical multiculturalism, traces the construction of the Vietnamese Canadians as successful “boat people” as part of the larger narrative of multiculturalism. This discourse of exceptionalism allows the needs of those who fall outside the constructed identity to remain unseen and underserved. Participant responses from this small pilot study will inform future investigation into the impact of intergroup conflicts hidden under the veneer of successful integration and adaptation of refugee and migrant groups.

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