Speakers on Thursday demanded that authorities amend the existing tobacco control law in the country to upgrade it in line with a framework set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
They said the existing law has several weaknesses that need to be removed under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or WHO FCTC.
The framework is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO, and it was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2003 and entered into force on in February, 2005. It has since become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in the history of the United Nations.
The framework was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic and is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. It represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation.
The concerns came in a workshop titled `Tobacco Control Law 'Amendment to Protect Public Health: Role of Media personnel’ held at the auditorium of National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute.
National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh Secretary General Prof. Khondker Abdul Awal (Rizvi) presided over the meeting.
Prof Awal said tobacco is linked to six of the eight leading causes of preventable death in the world.
He said that the government enacted the Smoking and Use of Tobacco Products (Control) Act, 2005 giving utmost importance on public health.
In 2013, it brought several important amendments to the Tobacco Control Act, but the law has several weaknesses.
“So, the law needs to be amended urgently. Journalists can play a leading role in that case,” he said.
Dr Sheikh Md Mahbubus Sobhan, Registrar (Clinical Research), National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, presented the keynote paper in the workshop.
He said the use of tobacco products is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chest diseases and many other preventable ailments and deaths.
“Every year more than 1.61 lakh people die of tobacco related diseases in the country,” he said.
Sobhan said that to protect public health from these harms of tobacco, the Ministry of Health has taken initiatives to strengthen the Tobacco Control Law.
He commented that the sooner the law is amended, the more lives will be saved.
Prof Khondker Abdul Awal (Rizvi) said National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh (NHFB) is working against tobacco. Six weaknesses in the Tobacco Control Act have been identified and called for amendment.
The demands are to ban “designated smoking areas” in all public places and public transport, prohibition of display of tobacco products in places of sale of tobacco products, totally ban any form of social responsibility programmes by tobacco companies, ban emerging tobacco products such as e-cigarettes altogether, increase the size of pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packets/boxes from 50 per cent to 90 per cent.
They also want to ban retail sales of bidi-cigarettes unwrapped and open smokeless tobacco products.
Under the auspices of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, 17 journalists who work for various national media outlets have received the NCD (Non-Communicable Diseases) Media Fellowship Award 2022.
Shyamal Dutta, editor of Bhorer Kagoj and general secretary of the National Press Club, attended the event as the chief guest and presented the journalists with crests and certificates.
He said that the Tobacco Control Act must be amended to put public health first in order to carry out the Sustainable Development Goals as the country has been graduating from the least developed country to a developing nation, he said.
“The SDGs cannot be achieved without this. For this, journalists can exert significant influence to grab the government's attention,” he said.
Brig Gen (Retd) Prof Md Younusur Rahman, Director at NHFB, Professor Dr Fazila-Tun-Nesa Malik, Professor of Cardiology & Chief Consultant Cardiologist, Rashed Rabbi, President of the Bangladesh Health Reporters Forum, Ataur Rahman Masud, Manager (advocacy) of CTFK were also present.
Dr Sohel Reza Choudhury, head of Dept. of Epidemiology and Research at National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, delivered the welcome address.
