Role in Anti-Tobacco Campaign: Ahsania Mission gets WHO regional award

Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) has received World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director's Special Recognition Award for excellent contributions to tobacco control in Bangladesh.

The WHO published the name of DAM along with two other regional awardees on its website recently.

Other awardees are -- Dr Biman Natung, chief of Voluntary Health Association of Arunachal Pradesh of India, and the Consumer Protection Board of Thailand.

This was announced on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day-2020 (May 31), said a press release from the DAM office in Dhaka.

"We have been notified via e-mail from WHO Bangladesh office about the award. Due to the Covid-19 emergency, this year's award giving ceremony has been cancelled," Sharmeen Rahman, senior programme officer of DAM, told The Daily Star.

DAM was awarded for its long-term efforts and commitment to control tobacco consumption in the country. This charity organisation has been implementing various tobacco control activities successfully since 1990.

The organisation played a pivotal role in law formulation and amendment in 2005 and 2013, and implementation of tobacco control law.

Globally, tobacco is a major risk factor for all the main noncommunicable diseases including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic lung diseases and diabetes mellitus.