The launching was held at the conference room of the Ministry of the Health and Family Welfare around 1pm. Habibur Rahman Khan, Additional Secretary of the Health Services Division, read out a speech on behalf of Health Minister Zahid Malek, said a press release.

Citing Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2017, Khan noted that tobacco consumption is declining gradually in the country.

Tobacco consumption rate in 2009 was 43.3 percent and came down to 35.3 percent in 2017. “The relative reduction rate shows that tobacco consumption has come down by 18.5 percent in eight years,” he said.

He hoped ‘AtmaJiggasa’ would play a role in positive behaviour changes in Bangladeshi people. 

Khan said tobacco harms the environment, public health, and economics at all the stages of cultivation, processing, and consumption.

“Second-hand smoking also causes serious harms to the non-smokers,” he said.

‘AtmaJiggasa’ has been jointly organised by the National Tobacco Control Cell, the Non-Communicable Disease Control Program of the Directorate General of Health Services, and an international non-government organisation, Vital Strategies.

It will be aired about 5,000 times on state-run Bangladesh Television and different TV channels. 

The 30-second TV spot, funded by Vital Strategies, shows a job holder man hesitating while taking out a cigarette from a pack and asking himself- “What Damage will this Cigarette Do?” The TV spot also calls upon everybody to play active roles to keep all public places smoke-free. 

Shafiqul Islam, the Head of Programs at Vital Strategies, urged for yearlong mass media awareness campaign on the multidimensional harms of tobacco and the tobacco control law. It will accelerate the implementation of acts and reduce the tendency of smoking among people, he said.