Bangladesh Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2018

Bangladesh ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2004 and passed a tobacco control law in 2005 based on the Framework. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is conducting a number of tobacco control activities along with implementing the obligations under the FCTC. However, the overall tobacco control activities of the country, in particular measures to reduce the demand for and supply of tobacco, are being thwarted and debilitated by the repeated interference of the tobacco industry. In January 2016, at the South Asian Speakers’ Summit on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Prime Minister announced a long-term goal for a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040. This goal will be frustrated if the current situation of tobacco industry interference persists. In 2008, the government of Bangladesh adopted the FCTC Article 5.3 Guidelines1 which provides specific measures to protect the government from tobacco industry interference. Although almost a decade has already been passed, the policies based on the Guidelines is yet to be formulated. As a result, different policies and initiatives regarding tobacco control has remained unprotected before the interference of the industry. PROGGA has conducted this study to focus on the importance of formulating a policy based on FCTC Article 5.3 to keep the tobacco control measures safe and protected from the interference of tobacco companies. The study aims at assessing how the government has responded to interference from the tobacco industry and what action has the government taken to deal with the instances of interference in the last two years (2016 and 2017). The questionnaire used in this study is developed by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) based on the specific recommendations from the Article 5.3 Guidelines.2 Information has been collected in the light of 20 questions, divided into seven categories and only from publicly available sources including govt. websites, reports published in mass media, reports and websites of tobacco companies. The scoring range for most questions is from 1 to 5. In some question, the score is 1 if the answer is No, and 5 if the answer is Yes. The lower the score is, the better compliance with FCTC Article 5.3 it suggests. Overall, the government has performed poorly in implementing Article 5.3 guidelines. As this is the first report of its kind for Bangladesh, it is the baseline from which improvements must be made.