Kerala has become India’s first state to be free of tobacco advertisements after the southern state completely did away with giving publicity to the nicotine-laden material at its points-of-sale.
Tobacco advertisements from 95.3 per cent of points-of-sale across 14 districts were successfully removed in an 18-month-long campaign spearheaded by the Public Health wing of the Kerala Health Services Department. The state police joined forces in this mega effort.
Tobacco control champion and Kerala Home Minister Shri Ramesh Chennithala declared Kerala as tobacco advertisement-free at function held in the presence of State Health Minister Shri VS Sivakumar in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram on November 14.
Dr AS Pradeep Kumar, Additional Director of Health Services (Public Health) who coordinated this massive effort, said a three-phase activity plan was developed with District Medical Officers at the core. “Sensitisation programmes were conducted with emphasis on Section 5 of COTPA for district officers at the state capital,” he added. “District officers in turn trained and authorised personnel attached to the Primary Health Centre.”
Section 5 of Indian tobacco control law called COTPA, 2003 bans all forms of advertisement, direct or indirect, of tobacco products.
The districts were given the freedom to customise according to their local needs. “This, in turn, raised the level of commitments and ownership taking,” pointed out the medical doctor who has a PhD in tobacco control. “At the state level, we supported the districts by framing guidelines, monitoring and advising course corrections,” said Dr Kumar who is among the few in India to have completed the Global Tobacco Control Leadership Program of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA.
The process that started during World No Tobacco Day 2013 saw both integrated and intensive drives that effectively pooled the services of health personnel from district to primary health centre level. In drives integrated with regular activities during the first phase from June to December 2013, over 23,500 notices were issued to shops that violated the provisions of Section 5.
Intensive weeklong drives in January and May 2014 marked the second leg of the campaign. As many as 32,566 shops and 62,365 eateries were inspected during the period 10 to 17 January 2014. While the January round revealed violations in 48.8 per cent of sites, field assessments conducted by personnel of Primary Health Centres in May showed that 90 per cent of points-of-sale were free of tobacco boards.
In October 2014, teams led by District Medical Officers at the district level and Programme Officers at the Panchayat and Primary Health Centre level certified that tobacco advertisement boards were surfaced out.
As many as 22,344 points-of-sale in 84 wards across Kerala were observed during 28 October to 7 November. Dr Pradeep Kumar says, “A civil society group with nearly four-decade-long experience in research and field implementation in Kerala conducted the evaluation study.”
The evaluation reported an overall compliance of 95.3 per cent – 98.5 per cent of points-of-sale are free of any advertisement hoardings and 96.7 per cent of points-of-sale are free from stickers and print advertisements. International standards prescribe that 90 per cent of sites have to be free of advertisements to become eligible for the tag of tobacco advertisement free.
Noted head and neck cancer surgeon Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi of Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Centre and an internationally acclaimed tobacco control proponent said, “Tobacco is the only consumer product in the world that has not a single beneficial use apart from causing death and disability. Industry spends billions in advertising this killer product to lure youngsters. Ban on advertising will save innocent youths from initiating this habit. I congratulate the Kerala Government.”
The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2009-10) said 44.2 per cent of adults above 15 years in Kerala had noticed advertisements or promotions on cigarettes and 70.9 percent and 72.3 per cent had noticed advertisements on bidis and smokeless tobacco respectively.
Bangalore-based senior head and neck cancer surgeon and tobacco control advocate Dr Vishal Rao said, “This is a significant step that Kerala has achieved in its efforts to improve public health of Keralites, especially the youth of Kerala. Youth between the age of 10 and 18 fall prey to the advertisement of tobacco and lured into addiction. Today we are seeing cancers in age group of 20s and 30s, which we earlier saw in the 70s. A healthy society should have less illness, less hospitals and less doctors and this can only be achieved through preventive health.”
Tobacco advertisements from 95.3 per cent of points-of-sale across 14 districts were successfully removed in an 18-month-long campaign spearheaded by the Public Health wing of the Kerala Health Services Department. The state police joined forces in this mega effort.
Tobacco control champion and Kerala Home Minister Shri Ramesh Chennithala declared Kerala as tobacco advertisement-free at function held in the presence of State Health Minister Shri VS Sivakumar in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram on November 14.
Dr AS Pradeep Kumar, Additional Director of Health Services (Public Health) who coordinated this massive effort, said a three-phase activity plan was developed with District Medical Officers at the core. “Sensitisation programmes were conducted with emphasis on Section 5 of COTPA for district officers at the state capital,” he added. “District officers in turn trained and authorised personnel attached to the Primary Health Centre.”
Section 5 of Indian tobacco control law called COTPA, 2003 bans all forms of advertisement, direct or indirect, of tobacco products.
The districts were given the freedom to customise according to their local needs. “This, in turn, raised the level of commitments and ownership taking,” pointed out the medical doctor who has a PhD in tobacco control. “At the state level, we supported the districts by framing guidelines, monitoring and advising course corrections,” said Dr Kumar who is among the few in India to have completed the Global Tobacco Control Leadership Program of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA.
The process that started during World No Tobacco Day 2013 saw both integrated and intensive drives that effectively pooled the services of health personnel from district to primary health centre level. In drives integrated with regular activities during the first phase from June to December 2013, over 23,500 notices were issued to shops that violated the provisions of Section 5.
Intensive weeklong drives in January and May 2014 marked the second leg of the campaign. As many as 32,566 shops and 62,365 eateries were inspected during the period 10 to 17 January 2014. While the January round revealed violations in 48.8 per cent of sites, field assessments conducted by personnel of Primary Health Centres in May showed that 90 per cent of points-of-sale were free of tobacco boards.
In October 2014, teams led by District Medical Officers at the district level and Programme Officers at the Panchayat and Primary Health Centre level certified that tobacco advertisement boards were surfaced out.
As many as 22,344 points-of-sale in 84 wards across Kerala were observed during 28 October to 7 November. Dr Pradeep Kumar says, “A civil society group with nearly four-decade-long experience in research and field implementation in Kerala conducted the evaluation study.”
The evaluation reported an overall compliance of 95.3 per cent – 98.5 per cent of points-of-sale are free of any advertisement hoardings and 96.7 per cent of points-of-sale are free from stickers and print advertisements. International standards prescribe that 90 per cent of sites have to be free of advertisements to become eligible for the tag of tobacco advertisement free.
Noted head and neck cancer surgeon Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi of Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Centre and an internationally acclaimed tobacco control proponent said, “Tobacco is the only consumer product in the world that has not a single beneficial use apart from causing death and disability. Industry spends billions in advertising this killer product to lure youngsters. Ban on advertising will save innocent youths from initiating this habit. I congratulate the Kerala Government.”
The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2009-10) said 44.2 per cent of adults above 15 years in Kerala had noticed advertisements or promotions on cigarettes and 70.9 percent and 72.3 per cent had noticed advertisements on bidis and smokeless tobacco respectively.
Bangalore-based senior head and neck cancer surgeon and tobacco control advocate Dr Vishal Rao said, “This is a significant step that Kerala has achieved in its efforts to improve public health of Keralites, especially the youth of Kerala. Youth between the age of 10 and 18 fall prey to the advertisement of tobacco and lured into addiction. Today we are seeing cancers in age group of 20s and 30s, which we earlier saw in the 70s. A healthy society should have less illness, less hospitals and less doctors and this can only be achieved through preventive health.”
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