Staff Reporter
Seventeen anti-tobacco organizations and Dhaka University students held a rally and symbolic coffin rally demanding timely and strengthening of the Tobacco Control Act to reduce tobacco-related deaths and tobacco use and to build a tobacco-free, healthy nation . They made this demand at a rally organized in the TSC area of Dhaka University on Wednesday morning (July 9, 2025). After the rally, the coffin rally ended by circling the university area. At that time , the speakers said that the tobacco use rate among the population aged 15 years and above in Bangladesh is 35.3 percent. 442 people die every day in the country due to tobacco use-related diseases , about 400,000 people are disabled every year , and 42.7 percent are victims of secondhand smoke. According to research results published by the American Cancer Society , the economic loss (medical expenses) of tobacco use in the 2017-18 fiscal year was Expenses and High productivity Lost ( quantity ) 30 Thousand 560 crore Taka , which is much higher than the revenue earned from this sector during the same period (22,810 crores). Although the existing Tobacco Control Act prohibits the promotion and advertising of tobacco products, companies are strategically campaigning. Speakers called for bringing multinational tobacco companies that violate the law to justice. Currently, about 1.5 million people in the country are suffering from tobacco-related diseases and more than 61,000 children (below 15 years of age) are suffering from various diseases due to second-hand smoke. The speakers said that if this law is strengthened through speedy passage, on the one hand, non-smokers will be protected from the harm of second-hand smoke. On the other hand, it will be possible to significantly reduce the possibility of using tobacco products by the next generation of citizens. On the other hand, it will be possible to prevent deaths due to tobacco. In addition , strengthening the Tobacco Control Act by abolishing designated smoking areas , banning the display of tobacco products at points of sale , stopping the retail sale of bidis and cigarettes , protecting young people from e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products , stopping the CSR activities of tobacco companies, and increasing the warning labels on cigarette packets from 50 to 90 percent will contribute to public health protection and achieving the SDG targets. Iqbal Masud , Director of Health and WASH Sector of Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Helal Ahmed , General Secretary of Protyasha Anti-Drug Organization, Abu Naser Anik , Senior Program Officer of Aid Foundation, Farhana Zaman Liza , Project Coordinator of TCRC , Hamidul Islam Hillol , Project Manager of BNTTP, Sima Das Shimu , Director of Anti-Tobacco Women’s Alliance Ubinig, Umme Jannat , Project Coordinator of MANAS , Nasrin Akhter , Project Coordinator of Nari Maitree, Dr. Aruna Sarkar , Program Coordinator of National Heart Foundation, Mithun Vaidya, Project Officer of WBB Trust, and Marjana Muntaha, Coordinator of Ahsania Mission Youth Forum for Health and Wellbeing, spoke at the event. The 17 organizing organizations are Dhaka Ahsania Mission , Pragya , Dorp , Nari Maitree , National Heart Foundation , BNTTP , BCCP , TCRC , WBB Trust , NATB , Aid Foundation , Gram Bangla Unnayan Committee , Protyasha , PPRC , Manas , Tabinaz and BTCA.