The Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) has launched an initial pilot communication campaign to spread anti-tobacco awareness through television and radio stations.
Under the campaign called ‘Sponge’, which would continue till the World No Tobacco Day on May 31, thousands of TV and radio ads would be aired during prime time and off peak periods, a health ministry press said here on Monday.
The public service announcement has already been running on the national channels through a paid media plan in 2016.
The ministry said that the announcement was one of the most powerful tobacco control messages ever made, which was successfully pre-tested in the region and now it is used in health campaigns in more than 20 countries globally.
The ministry in this regard lauded Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and national media, including radio stations, for their support to disseminate priority health public service announcements on their channels.
Their support, it noted, was in line with the Public Service Message (PSM) ruling within the PEMRA Ordinance, Section 20 (e) Act 2007 (amendment), Clause 9, Schedule C of the PEMRA Rules 2009.
The ordinance obliges licensees of television stations to allocate up to 10 per cent of their air-time to public service messages, including priority health and social welfare programmes delivered to communities in the country.
Following correspondence between the NHSRC Ministry and PEMRA chairman earlier in the year, the latter agreed to run the priority tobacco control messages on all national TV and FM radio stations in the country.
Minister of State for NHSRC Saira Afzal Tarar, in a statement, said, “This is a historic moment. The national media networks will be working with the government to raise awareness of critical health issues aimed at reducing the considerable burden of death and disease caused by tobacco which results in high rates of cancers, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, diabetes and strokes”.
“Through the delivery of these messages, media will be fulfilling its role to the community through their corporate social responsibility,” she said.
The director tobacco control cell stated, “The cell is very pleased to see that tobacco control messages have been given a priority with the first pilot campaign for the PSM ruling, given that there are considerable and rising health care costs to the community from tobacco related diseases.
“We hope that as a result of monitoring of this campaign, we will be able to show the Supreme Court that national media in the country is indeed acting in good faith in supporting the public by delivering these important health messages,” the director said.
The ministry said a number of future campaigns were already being planned to tackle the scourge of tobacco and other NCD risk factors given the enormous health care costs and productivity losses to the economy from non-communicable diseases.
