Campaign Against Smoking
Tamil Nadu Voluntary Health Association, a state-level unit of the Voluntary Health Association, New Delhi, recently organised a meeting of non-Governmental organisations in Coimbatore to join the campaign against smoking in public places. The meeting discussed the need for a law controlling smoking, what the people in the country thought about the ban on smoking in public places and how would the public respond to the ban after implementation of the law. According to a survey commissioned by the Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health and carried out by Synovate’s Global Omnibus, Mumbai, an overwhelming majority of Indians are strongly in favour of implementation of smoke-free zones in the country and consider passive smoking as a serious health threat. The country would enforce a strict ban on smoking at all work places and public places from October 2, according to a notification by the Ministry of Health and Family. The NGO directors discussed the action plan to take the message across to the varied communities they work. Twelve NGO directors attended the meeting.
