Achievement of 1st year [October-2009 to September-2010]

PROJECT NAME : Strengthen implementation of the tobacco control law in Khulna Division

WORKING AREA: Jhenaidah, Magura, Kushtia, Jessore, Meherpur and Chuadanga

IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: AID-Jhenaidah

TOBACCO USE IN BANGLADESH

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey [WHO,2009], 23.0% of adult aged 15 years or above currently smoke tobacco in Bangladesh, with the rates much higher for males (44.7%) than for females (1.5%). The smoking rate in rural areas is slightly higher (23.6%) than in urban areas (21.3%). Nearly 70% of current smokers plan or are thinking about quitting.

SURVEY METHODS

The baseline survey consists of 690 respondents from stakeholders such as taskforce members, market authority, transport authority, transport passengers and transport workers in three project districts (Jhenaidah, Magura and Kushtia).

A structured questionnaire was developed to collect information on implementation of the tobacco control law and on second-hand smoking. For this purpose six sets of questionnaires were developed: questionnaires for passengers, transport workers, NGOs/CBOs, market authority, traffic authority, public places authority and taskforce committee members.

KNOWLEDGE ABOUT TOBACCO CONTROL LAW:

Passengers:

• 32% of passengers do not know what is public place and public transport
• 16.7% do not know about harm of tobacco use and 15% do not know about harm of smoking
• 23.3% are not familiar with the term second hand smoking or know about its harm
• 67.5% of passengers do not know about the Tobacco Control Law of 2005
• 50% said that people smoke in transport frequently
• 49% of passengers, 41% of drivers and 10% of conductors smoke
• there was no signage in 70% of transport
• 50% of passengers protest against smoking in transport
• 94.2% of passengers would like to keep their transport and workplace smoke free

Transport Workers:

• 72.5% of workers say that people smoke in public transport
• 35.1% do not know the harm of smoking
• 71.7% do not know about the Tobacco Control Law of 2005
• 39.2% are not familiar with the term second hand smoking
• 12.5% of workers get information about bad impact of tobacco from NGOs, 9.2% from TV and 7.5% from posters
• 89% found no signage in the public transport
• 90% are willing to keep their transport smoke free
• 49.2% encountered protests against smoking in transport
• 30% recommend posting large signs at smoke free places, 28.3% recommended imposing more fines, and 9.2% recommend introducing prizes for smoke free

Market and Transport Association:

• 60.9% do not know about the Tobacco Control Law of 2005
• Regarding law, 10% get information from newspaper, 9.1% from TV, 8.2% from NGOs, 3.6% from stickers
• 80.9% opined that law is not implemented properly
• 11.8% do not know about the harm of smoking
• 27.3% are not familiar with the term second hand smoking and 45.5% do not know about the harm
• 91.8% would like to keep their public places and transport smoke free; among those 35.5% face problem to make their places smoke free.

NGOs and CBOs:

• 91% know about the Tobacco Control Law of 2005
• 9% are working for public places and public transport smoking ban
• People fail to abide by the law due to lack of education (15%), inactivity of law enforcing agencies (10%), inactivity of mobile court (5%), weakness of law (3.3%)
• 11% do not know harm of smoking
• 100% are willing to keep their office smoke free
• 80% recommend to use big signs
• 53.3% are willing to support government for tobacco control

Taskforces:

• 78% of taskforce members know about the Tobacco Control Law of 2005
• 80.9% suggest amending the law for more effectiveness
• 96.4% said that taskforce meeting does not hold regularly
• 91.8% said that mobile court does not operate regularly
• Suggestion regarding more effective taskforces: empowerment of police (13.6%), fine imposing power of college teacher (13.6%), sincerity of administration (13.6%), ward level taskforce (9.1%), more effective communication (11%), holding monthly rather than quarterly meeting
• Suggestion regarding more effective law implementation: awareness (20%), media coverage (19%), imposing more tax (13.6%), increase fine (7.3%), police power (4.5%), discourage tobacco farming (2.7%) and local level team (1.8%).

Public Places and Transport Authority:

• 31.8% do not know about the Tobacco Control Law of 2005
• 16.4% do not know about harm of smoking
• 24.5% of their offices and workplaces are not smoke free
• 45% do not know about the bad impact of second-hand smoking
• Only 15.5% are involved with anti-tobacco activities
• 85.5% has not gotten any order from government to implement the law
• 60.9% opined that big sign is effective to control tobacco

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