In India, millions of people commute to and from work via train. The Indian rail network is the fourth largest in the world, and is used most heavily by low-and middle-income Indians.
As such, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s (MoHFW) new outdoor campaign is set to reach a significant portion of the Indian population. MoHFW launched “Tears You Apart,” an anti-tobacco campaign that will appear on the exterior of trains on some of India’s busiest major railway routes across eight states from 27 April until September 2016. Vital Strategies has provided technical assistance to the Ministry.
The campaign is one of the most geographically extensive health promotion campaigns to utilize the world’s most heavily used railway network, which is used by over 10 million people a day. The campaign will also feature a PSA a Public Service Announcement (PSA) filmed in B. Barooah Cancer Institute in Guwahati, Assam and at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which shows real victims suffering from horrific cancers and disfigurements as a result of their chewing addiction. It also includes the victims’ relatives, who describe how tobacco-related disease has destroyed careers and family life, and added to their financial burdens. The railway ads could reach people who had not previously seen the campaign on TV.
Although smoking rates have declined in many parts of the world, it has not gone down equally for all segments of society. Low- and middle-income individuals maintain the highest smoking rates in many countries, including India, and tobacco industry tactics continue to be directed towards this segment of the population—especially youth. This campaign is an enormous opportunity to reach those people who suffer the greatest harm from the global tobacco epidemic.
That means a chance to reduce the burden of death and disease that tobacco continues to place on the Indian people and their government. According to the Tobacco Atlas, 120 million adults and over 2.5 million children continue to use tobacco in India. Of those, nearly one million people are killed by a tobacco-related disease every year in the country.
According to Mr. C.K. Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, “The Government is committed to ensuring healthcare and social safety for all Indians. Warning people about the dangers of tobacco is a key part of our strategy, using mass media campaigns, Film Rule, and all other methods of Behaviour Change Communication. Tears You Apart shows that tobacco-related suffering isn’t limited to disease and disability among patients; their loved ones also share immense health, emotional and financial pains and hardships. It was important for us to highlight this reality in this campaign.”
Source: Vital Strategies
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