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Jomarie Lanza was at the event and brings us the story.

The Belize Cancer Society and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids have partnered to launch "Youth Leading Change for a Tobacco-Free Belize."

Bringing together students and community leaders, the project empowers youth to drive advocacy for tobacco control policies and deter tobacco use among young people.

The Associate Vice President of the Tobacco-Free Kids Campaign, Patricia Sosa, gave us more details on what they hope to accomplish:

Patricia Sosa, Associate Vice President, Tobacco-Free Kids Campaign
"The Framework Convention for Tobacco Control which was a treaty negotiated by the World Health Organization has been ratified by 183 countries, it is the only public health treaty that has been ratified by that many countries and we have seen a major impact in terms of reduction in terms of tobacco consumption of tobacco products in the world and we would like to see Belize to benefit from those policies, in particular one policy that we are very committed to working in Belize is smoke-free environments which is banning smoking in all indoor spaces without exceptions and we are talking about public spaces, now we are not banning the product and we are not banning the product consumption in any private spaces it is all just public spaces in order to particularly reduce exposure to second-hand smoke by people that are not smokers and should not be exposed to second-hand smoke."

Sosa noted that as older tobacco users pass away, tobacco companies have targeted the younger generation, using alternative devices like e-cigarettes and vapes to recruit a new user base. She says it's easier to target the younger population to stop usage before it even begins.

Patricia Sosa, Associate Vice President, Tobacco-Free Kids Campaign
"We know that if you begin smoking before the age of 18 you are likely to become a lifelong smoker so it is of great interest for the industry to target young people what has complicated the situation right now is a target to young people through social media, using influencers and very targeted advertising they are very present where young people are so us as adults that are trying to protect the health of our young people are not aware of many of the things that were so for tobacco control engaging youth in essential is that you cannot be effective in doing tobacco control if you do not engage the young people because you need to know what the industry is doing and telling them."

Belize Cancer Society President Kim Simplis Barrow explained that the initiative aligns directly with the organization's mission to promote cancer prevention, specifically by curbing primary risk factors like tobacco use.

Kim Simplis Barrow, President, Belize Cancer Society
"The campaign will really, we are doing our strategic planning right now and it is we have a number of young people in the room who will be guiding this campaign so at the end of the session we will know what this campaign will look like because it will be, the strategic planning is youth engagement for them to give us the direction in which they would want to see, what Belize did they envision in terms of a smoke-free Belize."

"Prevention is one of the main pillars of the Belize Cancer Society and it is a major objective of ours over the next few years that we will be focusing on as we know tobacco is one of the main causes of cancer in the world and so for us this really aligns squarely with the work that we do at the Belize Cancer Society."