Pakistan Wins WHO Award for Contributions to Tobacco Control
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has awarded the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2026 Award to Pakistan in recognition of its outstanding contributions to tobacco control.
According to a statement issued by the WHO, the award was given jointly to the Tobacco Control Cell of Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and Dr Waseem Iftikhar Janjua, Senior Researcher at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
The WNTD Award is presented annually to individuals or organisations from each of the six WHO Regions in recognition of their outstanding contributions to tobacco control.
The statement stated that Pakistan successfully reduced tobacco consumption by 15.7% between 2014 and 2024, because of measures implemented to fulfil its international obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), according to new findings from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2024 led by the Government of Pakistan in partnership with WHO and the CDC Foundation.
“Tobacco products are still consumed by 16.1% of the Pakistani population aged 15 and above. As a result, each year, tobacco continues to cause nearly 164,000 deaths and economic losses of over 1,800 billion Pakistani rupees (around US$6.6 billion).”
It said that the GATS 2024 results were presented – under the leadership of Health Minister Mustafa Kamal – as part of the extended celebrations of WNTD and the international campaign launched by WHO under the theme “Unmask the Appeal – Countering Tobacco and Nicotine Addiction.”
The survey followed a science-based global standard protocol for systematically monitoring adult tobacco use, offering the last decade’s trends, and a comparison with the 2014 round.
It was conducted by the National Institute of Population Studies Training and Research in collaboration with the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination – through its Tobacco Control Cell – and WHO. More than 11,000 interviews were completed with an overall response rate of 95.6%.
WHO’s Representative in Pakistan, Dr Luo Dapeng, said, “The GATS 2024 results confirm that, together, we can protect and save lives thanks to international cooperation and the implementation of specific measures such as taxation and banning tobacco advertisements that are particularly targeting our children and teenagers.”
“The science is very clear: all tobacco products are killers. WHO will always stand with Pakistan to protect our children and our families from this public health threat,” he added. - The Express Tribune
