The name of Wu Yiqun cannot be avoided when it comes to tobacco/smoking control efforts in China - a country that consumes almost half the world's cigarettes.

As deputy director of the Beijing-based NGO Think Tank Research Center for Health Development, Wu and her colleagues succeeded in persuading organizers of Expo 2010 Shanghai and China's National Games to return all sponsorship fees from tobacco companies. She was rewarded for her efforts on Friday when the WHO acknowledged her contributions toward advancing the tobacco control agenda in China.

"This helps bolster my courage to continue combating the national smoking epidemic," she said after receiving her award.

Given the high smoking rates and the State-owned tobacco industry in China, Wu, 64, referred to herself as a tiny devil horse trying to stop a huge rolling stone.

"Setbacks were habitual," said Wu, a member of the Communist Party of China, who retired in 2004 from the post of deputy director of the then Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, now the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I've been in the field for five years and government officials have smiled at me countless times while we discussed the issue together," she recalled, adding that some of the officials dubbed her an aggressive old woman who knew nothing about the economy.

They always cited the importance of the tobacco industry to the State economy, tax revenue and the livelihood of tobacco farmers, she said.

However, other messages also need to be delivered to the top leadership and the general public: smoking-related losses from medical bills, sickness leave and accidental fires account for 1.5 percent of the country's GDP, she said.

Even worse, if current trends continue, one out of three Chinese men will die early from tobacco-related diseases.

"Can China afford to lose one out of three of its male scientists, engineers, technical experts, company presidents and political leaders?" Wu asked.

"Such an unacceptable loss could slow down economic growth and prevent China from becoming a technologically-based economy," she said.

Tobacco consumption is currently responsible for 5 million deaths a year, with more than 1 million in China alone, according to the WHO.

In response to the worldwide epidemic, nearly 170 countries, including China, ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which came into force in 2005.

According to the global treaty, China should work toward implementing a complete indoor public smoking ban by 2011. Based on the current situation, it is mission impossible, Wu said.