Daily Times

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean has announced the ‘World No Tobacco Day 2021 Award’ for Pakistan for its effective anti-tobacco steps and the federal government was apprised about its global achievement.

According to an official of the Ministry of National Health Services, Pakistan has grabbed the global award after significant work on tobacco control through policymaking as the country has set a target of reducing the number of persons consuming tobacco products by up to 30 percent by 2025 and successfully modelled the Tobacco-Smoke Free City project.

He said that WHO confirmed that the international award will be given to Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on the occasion of ‘World No Tobacco Day – Commit to quit’ which will be observed on May 31 across the globe.

He said that the WHO recently invited nominations to the World No Tobacco Day awards of individuals or organizations in each of the six WHO Regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control and outstanding contribution to tobacco control.

The Secretariat of WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) had already recognized the Smoke-Free Islamabad model internationally through displaying the snapshot of Smoke-Free Rose and Jasmin Public Park at the title page of its annual report. Pakistan is applauded for implementing the “M” measures (monitoring of tobacco use policies) in the MPOWER package to the highest level.

He said that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination (NHSRC) placed Tobacco Control Cell (TCC) and its working under DG Health wing since July 2020 and related work on smoke-free initiatives which were acknowledged by WHO.

It is pertinent to mention that the Ministry of National Health Services promulgated the S.R.O through which all types of Tobacco Advertising, Promotions, and Sponsorship (TAPS) were banned on ‘Point of Sale’ even at social media.

Under the Tobacco-Smoke Free City project, the health authorities have established monitoring cells on the district level to implement steps for reducing tobacco consumption, he added.

Pakistan has also made 304 localities and parks smoke-free in 12 different districts under the project, becoming the world’s first country to declare smoke-free public parks. Moreover, those selling tobacco products have also been registered under the Tobacco-Smoke Free City project.