In Bangladesh, 1.61 lakh people die each year due to tobacco use, according to the Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA).
At a meeting held in the city’s BMA building on Tuesday, ATMA pointed out that strong tobacco taxation measures and the formulation of tobacco control laws could reduce tobacco-related deaths and damage.
ATMA further highlighted that increasing the price of tobacco products through taxation to discourage their use is a globally recognised approach. However, Bangladesh's tobacco tax structure is flawed, and tobacco products are extremely cheap and easily accessible.
As a result, young and poor populations are particularly encouraged to use tobacco, leading to an increase in tobacco-related deaths and illnesses, which in turn raise government healthcare costs, discussed in the meeting.
A recently published “Tobacconomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard” from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in 2024 also revealed a disappointing picture of Bangladesh.
The scorecard is based on four factors: price, affordability, tax structure, and the share of tax in the retail price.
Bangladesh’s overall score was only 1.13 out of 5, down from 2.38 previously. Bangladesh performed poorly in all four factors, with a zero score in affordability being the primary reason for the drop in score.
It was discussed that there is an opportunity for Bangladesh to improve its Cigarette Tax Scorecard by raising the price of all types of cigarettes in line with inflation and income growth, increasing supplementary duty on lower-tier cigarettes to at least 70 per cent of the retail price, and replacing the multi-tiered ad valorem tax system on cigarettes with a uniform specific or mixed (specific and ad valorem) tax system.
In the ATMA meeting, several recommendations were proposed to strengthen tobacco control laws.
These include eliminating the provision for “designated smoking areas” in all public places and public transport, banning the display of tobacco products or packs at sales points, and completely prohibiting tobacco companies from participating in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
During the meeting, participated by 53 members of ATMA, the co-convener, Mizan Chowdhury and Hasan Shahriar of PROGGA (ATMA Secretariat) highlighted recent activities and the way forward for the organization.
Distinguished speakers of the event included Sajjadur Rahman, Deputy Editor, The Business Standard; Salma Yasmin Rita, Senior News Editor, Bangla Vision; Mostafizur Rahman, Bangladesh Lead Policy Advisor, Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK); Mortuza Haider Liton, Convener, ATMA; Nadira Kiron, Co-convener, ATMA; and ABM Zubair, Member-Secretary, ATMA.
