The Union is helping the Government of Bangladesh, a coalition of more than 300 non-governmental organisations and other groups to work together to implement its 2005 national tobacco control law. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) released in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 22 December 2009 provides valuable data about tobacco use in Bangladesh and how the campaign for tobacco control is progressing.

Paris, 22 December 2009 – The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung
Disease (The Union) is helping the Government of Bangladesh, a coalition of more than
300 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other groups to work together to
implement its 2005 national tobacco control law.
As part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (BI), since 2007 The
Union has provided more than $US 1.5 million in technical and financial support to
strengthen tobacco control efforts through improved cooperation between the
government and NGOs. “Assisting their collaboration ensures that tobacco control
activities are cohesive and consequently more effective”, says Dr Nils E Billo, Executive
Director of The Union.
Bangladesh is one of the top five tobacco-using countries in the world – and one of the
most densely populated. “Changing the law is a major achievement, but implementing it
fully will take time and action on many fronts”, added Dr Billo.
The Union manages BI grants in Bangladesh that have provided a variety of groups with
expert technical assistance and funds for projects that lead to sustainable improvement
in tobacco policies, such as tax/price measures, raising public awareness of the law and
the dire health effects of tobacco, promoting smoke-free environments and advertising
bans.
For example, tobacco control advocates and NGOs have created “mobile courts” to
enforce smoke-free laws and remove illegal advertisements; and they have established
partnerships with transport owners and labour organisations across the country to ensure
smoke-free public transportation. All project materials such as billboards, no-smoking
signs and stickers were cobranded by partner NGOs and the government to further
strengthen the trust and ownership in advancing tobacco control.
The Union has also provided training to improve the effectiveness of the campaign. Since
2007, more than 280 health leaders from Bangladesh Ministries and NGOs have
participated in The Union’s technical and management courses on tobacco control. In
November-December 2009, more than 90 district-level taskforce members from 22
districts, who represented Ministries including law-enforcement agencies, were trained
on tobacco control law implementation with a special focus on implementing smoke-free
policies in public places and on transportation.
The BI-funded Global Adult Tobacco Survey of Bangladesh released today in Dhaka
shows that progress is being made, but there is still much to do: 43% of adults (41.3 million) currently use tobacco (either by smoking or in smokeless forms), but 7 in 10 current smokers plan or are thinking about quitting and 4 in 10 are now aware of anticigarette smoking information on the television and radio.