The first Global Health Case Competition will ask students to propose tobacco control strategies for the state of Gujarat, India.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, nine student teams will work on strategies to “address a critical global health challenge scenario” in the UK College of Pharmacy Building, according to the event’s press release.

The teams will be asked by UK’s Global Health Initiative to reduce the health detriments caused by the use of tobacco products, as well as the monetary and sociological burdens attached.

They will also identify the costs and tradeoffs of different scenarios.

According to the UK International Center web page, the prompt given to the teams was chosen because of the high use of tobacco in Kentucky.

Tobacco’s status as the leading cause of preventable illness and death also played into the decision, according to the web page.

According to the Center for Disease Control, more than 16 million Americans have diseases caused by smoking, like cancer, heart disease or emphysema.

The CDC estimated that smoking is responsible for about 480,000 deaths in America every year, including about 41,000 caused by secondhand smoke exposure.

After a 15-minute presentation to a panel of judges, each team will answer the judges’ resultant questions and defend their strategy for 10 more minutes.

One team will move on to the 2015 International Emory Global Health Case Competition on March 28, according to the press release.

The event will be held at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

The first-place team from the 24 competing schools will win a $6,000 prize.

There will be a reception at the College of Pharmacy at 4 p.m. after the competition.

Staff Report