Pinoy receives Int’l Tobacco Control Excellence award
Posted on July 24th, 2011 under Technology Milestones
Dr. E. Ulysses “Yul” Dorotheo
Dr. E. Ulysses “Yul” Dorotheo was presented by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids “The Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence” during the Campaign’s annual Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala in Washington.
Dr. Dorotheo, a neuro-ophthalmologist, has been a tobacco control advocate for over ten years, and is the first Asian to win the Judy Wilkenfeld Award. He is currently project director for the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance’s Southeast Asia Initiative on Tobacco Tax (SEATCA-SITT), a five-year project aimed primarily at raising tobacco taxes and prices in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
In receiving the Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence, Dr. Dorotheo said: “The Marlboro cowboy may have ridden out of the US, but we are continually taking on Philip Morris and other transnational tobacco companies in the Philippines and in Asia. We need to fight collectively to ensure that public health is prioritized over international trade.”
“Dr. Dorotheo is a true champion of tobacco control, and has always put forth consensus building in his working style, thereby developing strong working relations with tobacco control NGOs, governments and international agencies and advocates, and earning the admiration of his countrymen and international colleagues, specially in the advocacy for the stronger implementation and development of the FCTC in Southeast Asia,” SEATCA Director Bungon Ritthiphakdee said.
Dr. Maricar Limpin, Executive Director of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance, Philippines (FCAP), said: “We are proud that the first Asian to be given the Judy Wilkenfeld Award is a Filipino and a founding member of the FCAP. It is a very significant contribution to the pride of Filipinos working in the global community for public health.”
Ms. Ritthiphakdee adds: “Dr. Dorotheo is a relentless advocate, tireless leader and a genuine champion for tobacco control.”
Health Justice, a tobacco control NGO in the Philippines, said Dr. Dorotheo is crucial to efforts to push for higher tobacco taxes and simplifying the current tax structure in the country. “Such efforts will hopefully relieve the government of health costs and curb tobacco use, especially among the youth whom we have to protect from a life-shortening addiction.” The Philippines, the group explains, “has among the lowest cigarette prices in the world; consequently, it ranks among those with the highest smoking prevalence. The number of Filipinos dying from tobacco-related diseases has ballooned up to 87,600 annually.”