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WHO head for educating public on tobacco hazards

ISLAMABAD: Country Head World Health Organization (WHO) office Pakistan, Dr Palitha Mahipala on Friday said that awareness campaigns were very useful in educating public on health hazard impacts of tobacco.

He expressed these views while addressing the public health representatives and volunteers in the road awareness campaign on tobacco control which was jointly organized by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and the World Health Organization here at Serene Chowk.

He said that awareness through putting stickers on public service vehicles was helpful to increase information and education on tobacco hazards while reducing tobacco consumption.

Speaking on the occasion Deputy Director Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), Ministry of National Health Services, Dr Samra Mazhar said that 160,000 people died every year due to smoking which was a huge loss of humans and financial for a developing country like Pakistan.

This was a matter of satisfaction that public transport in Islamabad was completely smoke free, she added.

She said”The smoke-free Islamabad is a role model, acknowledged by FCTC, for the whole of Pakistan and the world, by adopting which we can largely avoid human harm.”

During awareness campaign, Information Education and Communication (IEC) material on anti-tobacco was disseminated to the masses. No Smoking stickers were also affixed on public service vehicles.

Volunteers carried placards with messages to raise public awareness on hazards of tobacco use, second and third hand tobacco smoke and tobacco control laws.

The entire team of Education Wing of Islamabad Traffic Police and volunteers of Pakistan Red Crescent participated in the road awareness campaign on the increasing dangers of smoking among the people through this road awareness campaign.

WHO maintains: Tobacco kills up to half of its users; Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year; More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke; Over 80% of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low-and middle-income countries.

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M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.