A webinar on "Monitoring in MPOWER Preparing the Next Generation of Tobacco Control Advocates" was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with The Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease here
ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Apr, 2023 ) :A webinar on "Monitoring in MPOWER Preparing the Next Generation of Tobacco Control Advocates" was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with The Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease here.
The crux of the webinar was comprehensive data collection and building capacity of youth integral for effective policies for tobacco control.
Dr Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director, SDPI said over the past few years SDPI has been working on graphic health warnings, estimating the prevalence of heated tobacco products, e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and similar new products, and informed that SDPI is working on regulatory control of smokeless tobacco products through taxation and regulation, said a press release.
He stressed educating and building the capacity of the next generation of tobacco advocates and announced that SDPI would be conducting seminars on all six dimensions of M-POWER to join hands with students and academia.
He further said WHO-steered M-POWER interventions that have globally demonstrated a reduction in tobacco consumption, weak legal enforcement, and the conflicting political economy of tobacco products hinder the control of tobacco consumption in Pakistan.
Muhammad Ajmal Shah, Project Director, KP Tobacco Control Cell, informed that the Health Department notified a roadmap for MPOWER based on WHO guidelines.
He highlighted the working of committees formed by the government at provincial and district levels for monitoring compliance and reporting the progress of tobacco laws and measures to prevent smoking in public places and transport.
Dr Minhaj us Siraj, former Joint Executive Director, PIMS/FMTI stressed data consolidation, analyzing global and regional tobacco consumption trends, and ensuring comprehensiveness and transparency in tobacco control interventions.
He said that tools like tobacco vendor licensing and sales bans were instrumental in the tobacco industry voluntarily providing the government with insightful sales data which they had previously evaded.
He said consolidating health and end-of-mortality data among tobacco users can also provide convincing points for policymakers on tobacco control measures. He stressed environmental monitoring of air quality monitoring by PM25 at public places and collecting the exact amount of particulate matter before and after tobacco control measures to influence policy measures.
Sana Ahmad, Program Coordinator, Blue Veins, stressed expanding the monitoring scope despite financial constraints considering the variety of tobacco products traditionally consumed in KP. She emphasized engaging the community, youth, and media as advocates for monitoring and control of tobacco consumption through awareness, training, and capacity-building activities.
Dr. Waseem Iftikhar Janjua, Advisor Tobacco Control Project, SDPI briefed the audience regarding various tools for tobacco monitoring and control including using surveys, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System (CRVS), and Health Information and Administrative Systems for consolidating data to analyze health implications of tobacco consumption. Shedding light on the characteristics of the monitoring system, he stressed that it must be simple, flexible, consistent, inclusive, representative, sustainable, usable standardized, and should be held periodically.
Khurram Hashmi, Technical Head, The Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in his closing remarks reiterated engaging young leaders, leveraging social media and technology to mobilize the community, and expediting advocacy of tobacco control laws. He said that active engagement with youth was instrumental in data collection about various novel nicotine products and formulating effective taxation policies.
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