Recents Activities

Mayors will work collaboratively to achieve the goal of tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040.

The mayors at a two-day conference have taken the decision that strong steps will be taken to implement the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2013; and Tobacco Control Implementation Guidelines for Local Government Institutes in order to prevent the tobacco-related diseases and deaths. The two-day conference ‘Bangladesh Mayors’ Summit for Tobacco Control and Disease Prevention’ was held in Cox’s Bazar. The summit began on 23 September Friday and ended on Saturday (September 24, 2022).

Mayor Alliance for Healthy Cities-MAHC, Cox’s Bazar Municipality, Dhamrai Municipality, AID Foundation and Tobacco Control and Research Cell (TCRC) of Dhaka International University jointly arranged the event with the technical support of the The Union and APCAT. Mayors from 18 municipalities, including the mayor of Rangpur City Corporation, participated in this conference. Mayor of Rangpur City Corporation Mostafizar Rahman presided over the opening ceremony of the conference, while Mayor of Cox’s Bazar Md Mojibur Rahman delivered the welcome speech.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Cox’s Bazar Md. Mamunur Rashid, Joint Secretary (on-lien) and Consultant of The Union Fahimul Islam and National Professional Officer at World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Syed Mahfuzul Haque were present as the guest of honour.

Director General of NGO Affairs Bureau K.M. Tariqul Islam was present as the chief guest, while the event was attended, among others, by Additional Secretary at LGRD Ministry Md Khairul Islam, and Additional Secretary of Health Ministry and Coordinator at National Tobacco Control Cell Hossain Ali Khandker. In the technical session, advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam delivered the key note paper.

Mujibur Rahman, the newly elected chair of the Mayors Alliance for Healthy Cities, stated that tobacco is the leading threat to public health. Our Hon'ble Prime Minister has declared that the country will be tobacco-free by 2040, and in order to achieve this goal, we will work to strictly enforce tobacco control laws, such as the smoke-free and TAPs ban provisions. We will also try to enhance our strength by including more mayors from the 64 districts.

According to Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam, Technical Advisor at The Union, local governments play an important role in implementing tobacco control laws. We hope that local government representatives will take the initiative to implement the tobacco control guidelines. Following that, they will allocate funds for tobacco control programs to ensure local sustainability.

Planning Minister MA Mannan, Director of Tobacco Control at The Union Gan Quan, Barrister Shameem Haider Patwari, MP, also spoke on the occasion by joining the conference virtually. In the closing session, Shagupta Sultana, Project Director, AID Foundation, delivered the vote of thanks. The participants and speakers at the conference said that there is no alternative to control tobacco use to protect public health.