Ahsania Mission Youth Forum hails issuance of Tobacco Control Ordinance
Staff Reporter:
Ahsania Mission Youth Forum for Health and Wellbeing has welcomed the issuance of the ‘Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance 2025’, describing it as a historic and timely decision to safeguard public health.
The Forum extended its sincere appreciation and congratulations to the interim government during an event organized today by the Health Sector of Dhaka Ahsania Mission in Shyamoli, Dhaka.
Speaking at the event, youth representatives highlighted that tobacco use remains one of the leading risk factors for cancer and many other non-communicable diseases.
In Bangladesh alone, more than 130,000 people die prematurely each year due to tobacco-related illnesses.
Against this backdrop, the revised ordinance strengthens existing legislation by banning emerging tobacco products—including e-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs)—and, for the first time, classifying nicotine pouches as tobacco products.
These measures, they noted, will help protect young people and the wider population from the harmful effects of tobacco.
The speakers further pointed out that nearly 48 percent of Bangladesh’s population is youth, of whom 9.2 percent currently use tobacco.
Implementation of the ordinance will help prevent e-cigarette addiction among young people, reduce overall tobacco use, and decrease premature deaths linked to tobacco consumption.
This, in turn, will reduce the burden on the national health system and help mitigate environmental harm.
They added that provisions in the new ordinance—such as banning the use of all tobacco products in public places and public transport, prohibiting advertisement and display of tobacco products, and mandating 75 percent pictorial health warnings on packaging—reflect the government’s firm commitment to protecting public health.
Expressing gratitude to the interim administration, the Youth Forum called on the next elected government to move swiftly to enact the ordinance into law.
They also urged policymakers to ban the sale of single cigarette sticks, curb the influence of tobacco companies, and fully implement the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
The event was chaired by Marzana Muntaha, Coordinator of the Ahsania Mission Youth Forum for Health and Wellbeing. Other attendees included Forum members Tasnim Hasan Abir, Khadijatul Kubra and Bayezid Hossain, along with several youth participants.