ISLAMABAD - Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination’s Tobacco Control Cell launched advocacy campaign with technical support of Vital Strategies against tobacco epidemic across the country.

A statement said that the campaign had been started in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, PEMRA and electronic media channels of Pakistan. The campaign has started from 8th March 2019 for the period of three months.

The 30-second ‘smoking and cough’ ad graphically depicts how cigarette smoke causes preventable diseases and premature deaths. It graphically shows how a smoker’s body response resulting in different diseases which includes cancer, stroke and gangrene.  It may be remembered that the TCC and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) have already been working to institutionalise mass media campaigns through their regulatory system.

Over the past 3 years, the TCC in coordination with Vital Strategies and PEMRA has executed 4 tobacco control mass media campaigns as public service messages to media networks. An independent media monitoring agency supported by Vital Strategies found these TVCs were aired thousands number of times on TV channels in Pakistan.

Tobacco Control Cell has also recently notified new pictorial health warning – 60 per cent of the front and back of all cigarettes packs carrying picture of gangrene of foot. This new campaign presented and encompasses the consequences of smoking which may leads to different health perils including gangrene of foot.

Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of death in the world. In Pakistan, tobacco is a cause of death of around 170,000 persons every year. This is 20 deaths per hour. Population-level tobacco control communication programmes are helpful in curbing tobacco epidemic and saving lives of people of the country.