CARLES ESCOLA/BARCELONA (EFE)- The government of Salvador Illa chose on Tuesday to give a boost to the fight against smoking in Catalonia by appointing Professor Esteve Fernández Muñoz as the new Secretary of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, one of the most prominent leaders in Spain against tobacco consumption.
According to the Consell Executiu agreement, Fernández will be “responsible for the implementation of the Public Health Agency of Catalonia, for effective intersectoral action to protect health and prevent diseases,” such as those caused by smoking, which experts estimate causes the premature death of around 8,000 Catalans each year, more than 50,000 statewide.
At a time when the Generalitat has not made significant progress in measures against tobacco consumption and smoke-free spaces for more than a decade – in the past it was a pioneer in Spain in these policies – the various anti-smoking organizations and medical associations have welcomed this appointment.
Health sources consulted by EFE see in Fernández a future ally of the Minister of Health, Mónica García, who has taken the first steps to update measures in the fight against tobacco in its various forms, including the electronic cigarette.
Esteve Fernández was appointed President of the Advisory Council on Smoking in Catalonia almost two years ago. He graduated in medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1990 and trained from 1990 to 1994 at the Research Unit in Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of Cancer of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where he obtained a Master’s degree and a PhD in Public Health and Research Methodology in 1995.
Since 2001, he has worked at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), where he is currently Head of the Cancer Prevention and Control Programme and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Tobacco Control.
Likewise, he was Coordinator of the Epidemiology and Public Health Program at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute and is Professor of Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona.
Esteve Fernandez has focused his activity on research and teaching, mainly on epidemiological and implementation research for primary prevention and early detection of cancer, with a special focus on tobacco control.
She also worked on social, economic and gender determinants in health promotion with a focus on cancer and smoking. Among other activities, he coordinated the Catalan Network of Smoke-Free Hospitals and was President of the World Network of Smoke-Free Health Centres (2010-2014).
WHO Advisor
Esteve Fernández has advised on tobacco control to the World Health Organization and regional and national governments in Europe. He is a member of the Public Health Advisory Council of the Government of Catalonia and President of the Advisory Council on Smoking. He was President of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (2013-2015).
He is currently on the editorial board of the journal Tobacco Control and a reviewer for several public health journals, as well as national and international funding agencies.
The Minister of Health, Olga Bani, also appointed Narcís Pérez de Puig as Secretary General and Second Position of the Administration, who since 2015 has worked as Senior Technician of the Administration and Head of the Legal Area of the Mar Parque de Salud Barcelona Consortium.
He has also taught at the Barcelona School of Management (BSM) – Pompeu Fabra University, the University of Barcelona and the Open University of Catalonia Foundation.
In parallel, the Consell Executiu appointed Montserrat Figuerola Batista as President of the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS). Between 2016 and 2023, she held the position of Regional Director of the ICS in the South of the capital.
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