Join us on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. (EST) for the Tobacco Control and Better Care for NCDs: Key Aspects for Providing Smoking Cessation Services webinar, the fourth webinar in a series of five certifiable webinars from the Better Care for NCDs Initiative.
RECORDING
Webinar Objectives
- Provide an overview of tobacco control as an essential strategy for preventing and managing NCDs.
- To present the role of smoking and nicotine cessation as a key measure in tobacco control and its contribution to the comprehensive approach to NCDs.
- Share technical guidelines, best practices, and effective interventions for smoking cessation based on World Health Organization guidelines.
- Explore practical and organizational mechanisms for integrating cessation services into primary care health teams.
Certification
- Training activity certifiable by the Virtual Campus of Public Health (CVSP), with subsequent final evaluation.
How to Participate
- DAY: Tuesday, November 4, 2025
- TIME: 11:00 a.m. (Washington, D.C., time or EST) [Check the bottom of the page for times in other cities]
- LANGUAGES: Spanish, English, and Portuguese, with simultaneous interpretation in those languages.
- REGISTRATION: https://paho-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xkb4d1eTS_ucvUX5-raRgg#/registration
Agenda
Moderator: Rosa Sandoval, International Advisor for Tobacco Control, Risk Factors and Nutrition Unit, PAHO
- Opening and Welcome
- Vanessa García-Larsen, Head of the Risk Factors and Nutrition Unit, PAHO
- Contextualizing the role of tobacco control in the Better Care for NCDs Initiative and a regional overview of the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the Americas
- Rosa Sandoval, International Advisor for Tobacco Control, Risk Factors and Nutrition Unit, PAHO
- Overview of smoking cessation in the Region: progress, challenges, and its ethical role
- Adriana Bacelar, Tobacco Surveillance Specialist, PAHO
- WHO clinical guidelines and recommendations for smoking cessation
- Dongbo Fu, Medical Officer, Department of Health Promotion, WHO
- Importance of cessation in tobacco and NCD control
- Eduardo Bianco, Member of the WHO Clinical Guidelines Development Group on Cessation Treatment in Adults, Uruguay
- Integrating cessation services into primary health care: practical examples and recommendations
- Vasant Basdeo, Family Medicine Specialist, Trinidad and Tobago
- Toll-free cessation lines and their integration with primary care – Costa Rica's experience
- Gabriela Rojas, Patient care, Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence of Costa Rica
- Question and answer session
- Closing remarks and next steps in the Learning Pathway
- Vanessa García-Larsen, Head of the Risk Factors and Nutrition Unit, PAHO
Series of certifiable webinars - Better Care - 2025
Title: Expanding Quality NCD Services in the Community, from an Equity Perspective
Duration of each session: 90 minutes.
Total cycle duration: The seminars will be held from September to December 2025 and will be announced 15 days in advance through PAHO's social media channels and to the emails of those registered for the series.
Assessment and Certification: Each seminar will include an evaluation through a multiple-choice questionnaire, problem-based multiple-choice situations, or surveys. A specific bibliography will be provided for each session. Completion of all five evaluations will be mandatory in order to qualify for the final certification.
Participants who attend all five seminars and successfully complete the assessments will receive a Certificate of Completion of the 10-hour CVSP Seminar Program. The certificate will indicate the total duration of the sessions, the bibliographical references, and the assessment activities undertaken.
More information on the Series of certifiable webinars
Context
In 2023, PAHO launched the Better Care for NCDs Initiative, to accelerate the integration of noncommunicable disease (NCD) services into Primary Health Care (PHC). The initiative strengthens planning, implementation, and monitoring of comprehensive NCD services, ensuring equitable access, improving diagnosis and treatment, and enhancing data management across the Region.
To meet these objectives, strengthening the capacities of health teams is key. In this context, the ongoing training of interprofessional teams becomes essential, not only to update knowledge but also to transform institutional processes and the care provided to people with NCDs. Interprofessional education (IPE) is strategic for the comprehensive approach to NCDs, promoting collaborative work and the transformation of care models. In March 2025, the Better Care for NCDs Initiative, in conjunction with the Virtual Campus of Public Health, launched the Initiative's Learning Pathways. This itinerary inaugurates a cycle of five certifiable webinars. These seminars will provide accessible, short spaces with updated content and comprehensive approaches, aimed at different professional profiles of interprofessional health teams in PHC and decision-makers at different levels of management.
- Webinar 1: Evidence-Informed Tools for Better NCD Care
- Webinar 2: Association of Social Determinants in NCDs and Examples for their Approach
- Webinar 3: Nutrition and Physical Activity Recommendations for Better NCD Care
Time in other cities
- 8:00 a.m. – Los Angeles, Vancouver
- 10:00 a.m. – Belmopan, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Managua, San José (CR), San Salvador, Tegucigalpa
- 11:00 a.m. – Bogotá, Panama City, Havana, Kingston, Lima, Nassau, Port-au-Prince, Ottawa, Quito, Washington, D.C.
- 12:00 a.m. – Bridgetown, Caracas, Georgetown, La Paz, Port of Spain, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Saint George´s, Saint John´s
- 12:00 p.m. – Asunción, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo, Santiago
- 5:00 p.m. – Geneva, Madrid
For other cities, check the local time at this link.