Less attention to protecting children from tobacco

There’s a tea stall on the left, right in front of the main gate of Government Science High School in capital’s Farm Gate area. With a roof made out of discarded banners, the stall has tin fences around it. Visiting the location around 12:00 pm on Thursday, a group of people were found having tea and smoking cigarettes sitting on a bench placed on the side.

This reporter asked the tea seller, did anyone ever object to him selling cigarettes like this right in front of the school? With a snigger the man said, “Who would object? What’s the problem in selling cigarettes here?”

Not just in this makeshift tea stall, cigarettes are sold in the sizable grocery shop located exactly opposite of the school as well.

According to local government’s tobacco control implementation guidelines, selling tobacco products within 100 metres of educational institution is prohibited. Yet, cigarettes are being sold freely right outside of the boundary of this school in the capital.

In addition to sales, advertisement of tobacco products including cigarettes is also going on beside the educational institutes. The local government institutions are responsible for monitoring these. However, nobody’s paying attention to this.

It has been found in a study that the use of technology can make it possible to implement the tobacco control laws as well as reduce advertisement and exhibition of tobacco products. Yet, there’s no application of this on the mass level.

Under such condition, World No Tobacco day is being observed in the country today, Friday. The theme for the day this year is 'Protecting children from tobacco industry interference.'

According to World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) from 2017, the number of smokers or tobacco users in Bangladesh is 37.8 million (3.78 crore). And, according to the latest data of Tobacco Atlas, the rate of tobacco usage among adolescents aged from 10 to 14 years in Bangladesh was 6 per cent in 2019.

Public health law and tobacco control expert Syed Mahbubul Alam told Prothom Alo yesterday, Thursday, that the tobacco companies indeed consider the children and adolescents as their future consumers and run different campaigns to get them as customers. That’s why the tobacco usage isn’t declining.

Johns Hopkins University in the United States had run a survey on the conditions of the surroundings of total 110 schools located in different areas of the capital back in 2016. It showed that as many as 487 out of the 507 grocery shops located within 100 metres of these schools among other items sell tobacco products.

The local government institutions have the responsibility of monitoring to prevent the sales of tobacco within 100 metres radius of schools.

For example, the councilors of every ward in Dhaka city or the employees working in their offices can do this job. But these organisations are not performing that duty.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) chief health officer Brigadier General Imrul Kayes Chowdhury told Prothom Alo, “The city corporation has not yet made any such efforts to stop the sales of tobacco within specific area surrounding schools. However we are thinking of starting this initiative soon. There’s a plan of running several drives in June.”

Although it’s prohibited to consume tobacco products or smoke in public places, almost no one follows that. Meanwhile, advertisement and display of tobacco products is prohibited as well but still it’s not stopping.

In these circumstances, Barishal-based non-government organisation ‘Grambangla Unnayan Committee’ has been successful in reducing tobacco advertisement and display with the use of technology.

Because of this organisation’s enthusiasm, advertisement and display of cigarettes have declined by more than 2 per cent, gul (tobacco powder) by 70 per cent and bidi (rudimentary cigarettes) by 4 per cent in this division within 2019 to 2022.   

The organisation had created a database after surveying 6,822 shops in 12 municipalities of Barishal division back in 2019. The advertisement and display of tobacco products in those shops were recorded using a software. And the GPS locations of those shops were identified as well.  

Later the organisation informed the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), municipal mayor, deputy commissioner and civil surgeon of the district about the picture of illegal display of tobacco products in those shops. Apart from this, the organisation also works to raise awareness among the shopkeepers.

Executive director of Grambangla Unnayan Committee, AKM Maksud told Prothom Alo that the members of the organisation sometimes reported law enforcement forces about shops that displayed advertisements of tobacco products without following the rules. Later, the concerning authorities conducted mobile court drives also.

Jhalakathi Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Anuja Mondal said that the illegal advertisements and display of tobacco have been stopped by conducting several drives taking help of technology in this way.

“This cooperation from the non-government organisation has been very useful in our government activities. It can be applied elsewhere as well on trial basis,” she told Prothom Alo.

* This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Nourin Ahmed Monisha.