Islamabad : In an effort to make Pakistan tobacco-free, Chromatic Trust has successfully completed the second round of awareness campaigns to ban nicotine pouches and modern tobacco products.
The campaigns involved the youth of age between 8 to 25 to send a clear message that tobacco in any form is unacceptable through this post card competition.
During this month-long digital campaign, Chromatic Trust encouraged youth to use their creative minds to design postcards digitally on Photoshop, illustrator or any other software demanding ban on nicotine pouches and other modern tobacco products. More than 500 entries were received during this postcard competition from all across Pakistan.
The jury of experts chose 22 years old Navroz Vadsaria from Karachi as the winner of the first prize which is Rs50,000, 20-year-old Um e Rubab from Islamabad won the second prize of Rs20,000 and 25-year-old Abdul Rehman Nagi from Lahore won the third prize of Rs10,000.
All 500 entries were displayed during the art walk in the event which took place in a local hotel in Islamabad where health experts, policymakers, media personnel and students were present.
Special Advisor to Prime Minister Faisal Karim Kundi congratulated the organisers and said those who participated in this postcard competition are all winners.
He assured his full support in order to restrict the sale of nicotine pouches to adolescents. Convener Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs Romina Khursheed Alam said this post card competition is a wonderful way to create awareness among youth. She said tobacco kills over 8 million people every year and we need to do a collective effort to curb this menace.
Former-senator Sehar Kamran emphasized that the main target of these new harmful products is young girls. She assured her full support and said will raise this issue in policy corridors as well.
CEO of Chromatic Trust Shariq Khan said the idea of this postcard competition was to target the youth of Pakistan because tobacco companies are targeting youth with new products to make them addicts. He requested the government to ban the marketing of nicotine pouches to minors through social media.
Shariq thanked every child who participated in this competition and said their parents deserve special thanks for encouraging their children to become a part of this campaign to make Pakistan tobacco-free. He said nicotine pouches and modern tobacco products are a threat to everyone, irrespective of age or gender. Young people should bear in mind that nicotine pouches are not like any other consumer products it is hazardous and it causes death and diseases.
Country Director, CTFK, Malik Imran said tobacco is a leading cause of mortalities in Pakistan and around the world. He explained that tobacco is responsible for 7 million deaths in the world yearly of which 6 million people die due to tobacco consumption and around 600,000 due to exposure to second-hand smoke.