Breaking New Grounds in Tobacco Control - Voluntary Health ...

the Govt. has demonstrated tremendous
commitment towards safeguarding the
health of the people of the state, which
has highest exposure of SHS reported in the
GATS Survey. This praiseworthy step will go
a long way in saving lakhs of lives.
Challenges
When a smoke free campaign is initiated
in any setting, certain challenges are
faced and strategies have to be devised to
overcome these barriers. Our experiences
indicate the following challenges -
• Tobacco control is not perceived as a
public health priority at the state level
and the industry employs varied tactics
to deflect attention or circumvent the
law.
• Very often, the nodal department i.e. the
Department of Health at the state level
is burdened with other priority health
issues or is not fully well- versed with
the details of implementation process of
the law. Resources are also either nonexistent
or limited. In such situations,
effective advocacy and sensitization of
relevant officials may work.
• Advocates may find that in their state
or district, the enforcement mechanism
may be present on paper but is not
active, therefore, issuing challans and
compounding fines become a muchdiscussed
and debated topic. It is
important to note that the enforcement
mechanism is inefficient unless coupled
with awareness generation and ensuring
a system.
• The key challenge is the lack of a formal
tobacco control cell at the state-level
if the setting is/is not under NTCP.
The presence of this cell with a Nodal
Officer would ease the current pressure
on the District Administration/Health
Departments for technical inputs, staff
and support.
For the Millions
n 28
Way Ahead
There is also an urgent need to strengthen
district-level coalition with strong
spokespersons or member organizations.
The coalition needs to be urgently revamped
and reorganized in terms of inculcation of
new organizations with varied skills, formal
meetings, more cohesive working and
regular updates on new developments. To
ensure smoke free, there is a larger role of
for civil society and government together
both at national and international level.
Sincere efforts of various sectors and a
collaborative approach is required to make
this a success.
The key to any successful initiative is the
means of sustaining it in the long term,
in the face of constant and innovative
industry tactics. During the last few years,
more cities, states and provinces are
coming up to the smoke free status. This
raises the discussion on the sustainability.
Enforcement, efficient reporting of
violations and effective monitoring are the
three major components of a sustainable
smoke free status. Institutionalization
of tobacco control efforts i.e. capacity
building of stakeholders, creating
awareness and engaging the media must
be other key pre-requisites as a pro-active
administration, an alert civil society and a
socially committed media are the pillars of
a sustainable smoke free effort.
About the Authors
Saju V Itty is Executive Officer, Kerala VHS
Itishree Kanungo is Manager, VHAI-
Aparajita,Orissa
Ali Mohammed Mir is Executive Director,
J & K VHDA
Narender Sharma is Executive Director,
Himachal Pradesh VHA