Vibrant anti-tobacco campaign recommended

Information minister Hasan Mahmud recommended for a vibrant anti-tobacco campaign to make Bangladesh tobacco-free.

Addressing as the chief guest at a workshop on the necessity of amendment in tobacco-related laws, he said that the decreasing trend of smoking at present time is not adequate to make Bangladesh tobacco free by 2040, says a press release.

In 2016, prime minister Sheikh Hasina made a promise to make the country tobacco free by 2040.

Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (VOICE) and Law Reporters’ Forum (LRF) jointly organised the workshop at the Nasrul Hamid Auditorium in Dhaka recently.

Head of epidemiology and research under National Heart Foundation, Sohel Reza Chowdhury, said that people at early age are having heart attacks in Bangladesh because of trendy consumption of tobacco.

“If we fail to amend the laws and reduce tobacco consumption, we will not be able to provide a healthy world to the next generation,” he warned.

TV Today editor-in-chief Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul asked the journalists to review the existing tobacco laws as well as policies and find out if they are befitting to prime minister’s promise.

VOICE project coordinator Zayed Siddiki presented a keynote paper at the event moderated by the organisation’s executive director Ahmed Swapan Mahmud.

President of Dhaka Reporter’s Unity Mursalin Nomani, head of Tobacco Control Program of Progga Hasan Shahriar, lead policy advisor of CTFK Mostafizur Rahman, among others, also addressed the workshop.