Our Impact

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids was founded in 1996, when youth smoking in the U.S. was at record highs and rising, the tobacco industry was largely unregulated and unchecked, smoking was allowed nearly everywhere, and the Marlboro Man and Joe Camel were recruiting a new generation of smokers.

Over the past 30 years, we’ve helped push through the proven policy solutions that changed that – sharply cutting smoking rates among youth and adults, protecting over 200 million Americans from secondhand smoke, and reversing skyrocketing youth use of e-cigarettes.

Globally, we supported the negotiation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the international treaty that took effect in 2005 and commits countries to implementing evidence-based tobacco control measures. In 2006, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Gates Foundation, we launched our Global Tobacco Control Program, with a focus on supporting implementation of FCTC policies in low- and middle-income countries with the largest numbers of smokers.

Our work has helped to achieve numerous policy and legal victories around the world, saving over 35 million lives.

Building on the successes and lessons learned in the fight against tobacco, in 2014 we launched our Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) to tackle other critical public health challenges across the globe – including food and nutrition policy, injury and overdose prevention, and building resilient and equitable health systems. 

Since then, GHAI has supported civil society organizations and advocates in 38 countries to pass policies that reduce disease, prevent injuries and save lives. GHAI has helped cut drowning deaths in Viet Nam, improve road safety in Mexico, combat the overdose crisis in the United States, build epidemic preparedness across Africa, and much more.