As of 31 August 2010, all tobacco packages printed for use in Pakistan bear a gruesome photograph of a person with mouth cancer. The law requiring the pictorial health warnings went into effect on World No Tobacco Day, 31 May, and industry had 90 days to shift its production to the picture-based packaging. 

Pictorial warnings have been proven to deter people from starting to smoke and to encourage smokers to quit.  The Union worked closely with Pakistan’s Ministry of Health and The Network, a Pakistan-based consortium of tobacco control organisations to make the new warnings a reality. Both organisations have been supported by The Union, through Bloomberg Initiative grants to reduce tobacco use, to build support for the pack warnings and ensure their effective implementation.      

Following suspected tobacco industry interference, which earlier saw a five-month delay in implementation of the warnings, The Union worked with The Network to publish notices in Pakistan’s leading daily newspapers appealing to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health to honour their commitment to implement the warnings.  The notices were endorsed by the Pakistan Medical Association and several leading universities and NGOs. Following the release of the notices, the government announced that it would bring out the warnings, butThe Network continued to campaign on the issue, in order to make it difficult for the industry to promote further delays.

In May 2010 The Union collaborated with the Ministry of Health to hold a workshop on pictorial health warnings in Islamabad to support the Ministry’s efforts and provide stakeholders with information on best practices and implementation. The workshop also attracted considerable media interest which served to sensitise the public to the forthcoming warnings.

With the start of manufacture of tobacco packages bearing the new warnings throughout the country on 31 August 2010, the long, hard struggle of all those involved in promoting tobacco control in Pakistan bore fruit.  The Union continues to provide technical and financial support to The Ministry of Health and The Network to ensure effective enforcement of the warnings as retail outlets begin to stock the new packages.