Study finds tobacco use claims 442 lives daily

Physicians and journalists at a workshop on Wednesday warned that tobacco consumption is claiming at least 442 lives daily in Bangladesh, urging swift amendments to the Tobacco Control Act.

They said tobacco use causes the deaths of around 116,000 people each year and leaves nearly 400,000 others permanently disabled.

The workshop, held at Paltan in the capital, was jointly organised by the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh (NHFB) and the Bangladesh Health Reporters’ Forum.

Presenting the keynote paper, Dr Sohel Reza Chowdhury, head of research and epidemiology at NHFB, said that beyond the direct toll of smoking, some 38.4 million people are exposed to secondhand smoke every day.

Speakers included Rashed Rabbi, president of the Bangladesh Health Reporters’ Forum; Naimul Azam Khan, adviser to NHFB’s tobacco control project; project coordinator Dr Aruna Sarkar; and Mainul Hasan Sohel, general secretary of Dhaka Reporters Unity.