A road less travelled : VHAI Journey on Tobacco Control

VHAI’s journey on tobacco has been long and distinct. To take up tobacco as a priority issue has not been easy especially in a country where people find it difficult to get a meal a day, India where 26% people are Below the Poverty Line accounting for almost 30 crore people who  wrestle hard to survive, tobacco is ignored and sidelined. Initially being an alien subject, there was difficulty in searching for like minded people and organizations. However grime the situation was, it did not deter the intensity with which VHAI embarked upon the issue that was guarded safely under the garb of the tobacco companies and their blatant lies.

The journey began in 1986 when Simon Chapman a professor at the University of Sydney had visited India and since he had heard about VHAI, he requested VHAI to arrange a public talk on tobacco. That was organized at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. The meeting was a revelation as Professor Chapman, unfolded pages of the hidden facts and secrets of the tobacco industry. The truth behind the problem began to be felt among the people concerned and members present who were academicians, students, NGO's and media personals. The channel had begun to clear the VHAI staff members working on tobacco were trained by the International Organisation of Consumer Unions (IOCU) in Penang, Malaysia that motivated the people by providing the confidence that was needed to take up the issue of tobacco control headlong. A database of information from national and international sources was established that helped to connect with like minded organizations and people (activists, scientists, researchers) who were willing to join hands to counter the problem. The underlying truth was that sustainable outputs would only be possible when the civil society was involved to address the problem of tobacco.

A network was developed in 1988 VHAI organized the 1st National Conference on ‘Tobacco or Health’ in Delhi that was attended by thirty NGO representatives like doctors, scientists and researchers. Supporting VHAI was the group from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, ‘Health or Tobacco’ (HOT). The conference was a landmark for India’s anti-tobacco NGO movement, which led to the formation of the first NGO network on tobacco control in India- Action to Combat Tobacco Indian Organizations Network (ACTION). The name was coined by Dr. Srinath Reddy a member of HOT and a faculty at AIIMS.

Leadership and Health

VHAI understood the need to target the children and the youth when it came to tobacco control and information dissemination since the industry was doing the same. VHAI sent circulars to more than 100 principals of various schools in Delhi to allow VHAI Staff to conduct sessions with the students on the dangers of tobacco use which received an overwhelming response. Following this competitions were arranged for school going children that was supported by the media. The winner for the Hindi essay writing competition was a blind student who provided an insight to VHAI on different perceptive of the problem. Information Education and Communication (IEC) material was developed. The potential leaders among the schoolchildren were identified and given responsibility to create peer pressure groups. Five students from each school were invited, to visit AIIMS and interact with the medical professionals who explained to the children the tobacco problem. The programme was widely appreciated and carried out across Gwalior, Varanasi, Dharmsala, Patna and Guwahati.

Innovative approaches to dissemination

In the 90’s Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the All India Radio (AIR) together embarked an inventive& innovative project called Radio-DATE, where DATE was short of Drugs, Alcohol & Tobacco Education. The premise behind the project was to reach out to the youth through innovative and interactive educational programmes. The ICMR was in search of agencies that would help in the development of IEC Material and VHAI was chosen to design material that would be mailed to the 84 radio stations of the AIR Broadcast. The target group being the youth, VHAI had an important part to play while judging the competitions.

The role played by VHAI in understanding tobacco as public health issue.

In ’91 the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, organized the first national conference that recognized the need to mainstream tobacco as a public health issue supported by the WHO. VHAI was nominated on the Steering Committee because of the large health network that we have established to facilitate Regional workshops that culminated into National Workshops.

VHAI takes action in ‘91

VHAI took a strong stand against the deep nexus between the BCCI & the tobacco companies when the Board of Control for Cricket in India shamelessly accepted sponsorship from ITC Ltd and displayed prominent brands of popular cigarettes on the cricketer’s apparel to popularized their products.
 
VHAI liasoned with all cricket playing nations who gave  immense support and in ’98 a public interest litigation was filed by Mr. Prasant Bhushan (Advocate)in the Delhi High Court against BCCI for indirectly promoting the marketing of cigarettes among the youth by displaying cigarettes logos on the apparel. The PIL caused quite a stir, during the course of the World Cup in England; ASH (Action of Smoking and Health) gave good media coverage in London to the litigation against the sale of Indian cricket apparel.

This event was a landmark and the victory was achieved in 2001, when ITC withdrew its sponsorship from the Indian cricket team. A nation was awakening for tobacco-free sports.  

The pioneering role of VHAI

The PIL filed in 2001 was a precursor that led to the development of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Bill 2003 that was supported by many.

VHAI intervened by developing innovative strategies for sensitization workshops that led to the publication of a booklet called ‘Know Tobacco’ and a ‘Quit Card’ that was published by WHO. The main asset of VHAI is the large membership and federal structure of 27 state partners who were oriented towards the menace of tobacco. The state partners also submitted their agenda for state level tobacco interventions at a time when the Tobacco Bill was getting introduced in the Parliament.

The work done by VHAI has been a long winding street from tobacco being a completely discarded issue to one being recognized as a public health menace.