The active participants of a round-table held here on Monday have promised to declare Peshawar a tobacco-free capital by ensuring effective keeping with existing policy measures.
The round table was organised by Blue Veins NGO in collaboration with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tobacco Control Cell of the Directorate General of Health Services.
The consultation was organised on a proposed action plan for sustainable tobacco control in the region to ease the implementation and integration of the KP Tobacco Control Roadmap 2021 developed by the health department.
The action plan is intending to assist different government departments, institutions, policymakers, provincial & district authorities, and other relevant agencies in executing the provincial planning on tobacco control.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health, MPA Rabia Basri added that the provincial action plan was anticipated to promote coordinated actions by government as well as non-government institutions for sustainable tobacco control measures.
She added that successful execution was dependent on effective partnerships and collaboration between all stakeholders and the community.
Moreover, Additional deputy commissioner for human rights and relief, Peshawar, Imran Khan said the district government was proactively enganging to improve compliance to tobacco-regarding laws and policies by regularly keeping a check on it.
Dr Nek Dad Afridi, director of public health, said reduction in smoking prevalence was one of the most important public health measures that should be implemented to improve the health of the province’s population.
Ajmal Shah, the project coordinator of Tobacco Control Cell, said the Pakistan government had already undertaken a series of actions for tobacco prevention and control under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
