The Honorable State Minister for Health and Family Welfare of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dr. M.A. Muhit, has remarked that initiatives will be taken to present the Tobacco Control Ordinance in the first session of Parliament to turn it into law, a press release said.
He made this remark on Sunday (8 March) while delivering the keynote speech as the chief guest at a discussion meeting held at the CIRDAP International Conference Centre in the capital, marking International Women’s Day.
The meeting was also attended by Tahsina Rushdir, Honorable Member of Parliament from Sylhet-2, Sheikh Momina Moni, Additional Secretary of the World Health Wing, and Professor Dr. Shah Ali Akbar Ashrafi, former Director of the Directorate General of Health Services, as special guests.
Dr. M. A. Muhith further said, “The approved Tobacco Control Ordinance is an important step towards protecting public health. I am hopeful that the ordinance will be passed in the first session of Parliament and enacted into law.”
The meeting highlighted that according to the Tobacco Atlas 2025 of the World Health Organization, approximately 21.3 million people aged 15 years and above in Bangladesh use tobacco. Each year, nearly 200,000 people die from tobacco-related diseases, which translates to an average of around 546 deaths every day. Meanwhile, the economic loss caused by tobacco amounts to nearly BDT 87,000 crore annually.
In this context, the ‘Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025,’ proposed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, was approved in the Advisory Council meeting held on December 24, 2025. The approved ordinance includes provisions to ban the use of all types of tobacco products alongside smoking in public places and public transport; prohibit all forms of advertisement, promotion, and dissemination of tobacco products including displays at points of sale, via the internet, or any other medium; ban the sale of tobacco products within 100 meters of educational institutions; and increase the size of pictorial health warnings on tobacco packaging from the existing 50% to 75%, among other measures.
MP Tahsina Rushdir said, “The harm caused by tobacco is not limited to individual health risks; it also has severe negative impacts on families, society, and the national economy. Referring to Tobacco Atlas 2025, she noted that more than 11 percent of women’s deaths in Bangladesh are caused by tobacco-related diseases.”
She added that converting the approved ordinance into law would help protect future generations from the devastating health risks of tobacco.
Sheikh Momena Moni stated that, “although the government earns around BDT 40,000 crore in revenue from the tobacco sector each year, the economic loss due to treatment costs, loss of productivity, and premature deaths exceeds BDT 87,000 crore.”
She noted that, the previous interim government approved the tobacco control ordinance to prevent such massive losses and fatalities, reflecting the government’s strong commitment to protecting public health. She urged the newly elected government to maintain this position and support the law.
Professor Dr. Shah Ali Akbar Ashrafi said that, “the previous interim government’s approval of the tobacco control ordinance proposed by the Ministry of Health was undoubtedly a positive step.
He added that, “the responsibility now lies with the newly elected government to convert the ordinance into law, especially since the ruling party had committed to this issue in its election manifesto.”
The meeting was chaired by Shaheen Akhter Dolly, Executive Director of Nari Maitree. Among others present were Masuma Alam, President of Nari Maitree, along with representatives from the Anti-Tobacco Mothers’ Forum, Teachers’ Forum, Journalists’ Forum, Youth Forum, and various civil society organizations.
All participants strongly demanded that the approved Tobacco Control Ordinance be converted into law in the very first session of Parliament.
