Sino-US partnership works toward smoke-free workplaces

The China-US Partnership on Smoke-free Workplaces (CUSW), was launched Friday in Beijing.

The public-private partnership aims to better involve enterprises in smoking control efforts.

Some 59 enterprises, both Chinese and foreign-owned but based in China, have joined the campaign, initiated by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Chinese Ministry of Health.

The commitment is part of a growing international movement among health and business leaders to improve the health of their employees and protect themfrom second-hand smoke in the workplace, China’s Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu said in an address at the partnership launch.

Corporations and entities registered in China are welcome to join the campaign, which will last until January 2014.

Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary of Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services said at the launch that they would provide training and information support for their Chinese counterparts in the campaign.

China now has more than 300 million smokers on the mainland and each year more than one million die from smoking-related diseases, official statistics show.

Worldwide, some 600,000 people die from conditions attributable to second-hand smoke every year, statistics from the World Health Organization show.