Doctors to drive anti-smoking initiative

Chinese doctors will join the country's anti-smoking campaign and become role models for the country's 350 million smokers under a recent initiative launched in Beijing by the Ministry of Health, China Medical Board (CMB) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The five-year-long China Medical Tobacco Initiative, designed exclusively for Chinese medical professionals, is aimed at building smoke-free campuses and smoke-free hospitals, promoting tobacco control in medical education and improving hospital services for those wanting to quit.

The ultimate goal of the program is to create a "smoke free China", says CMB President Professor Lincoln Chen.