Capacity Building Training for the Executive Magistrates on Tobacco Control Law

Two one day long capacity building trainings for Executive Magistrates on tobacco control law was conducted on 13-14 July 2014 at Meghna Hall of BIAM Foundation, Dhaka. National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC) of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) with the Technical Assistance from The Union arranged the training to orient Executive Magistrates better with tobacco control law and its enforcement.The training was conducted for two batches. The first batch received training on 13 July 2014 and there were trainees from Dhaka, Barisal and Khulna division. While the second batch received training on 14 July 2014 and there were trainees from Chittagong, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Sylhet division. Fifty four Executive Magistrates from across the country attended the workshops.

In the inaugural session, Ms Roxana Quader, Additional Secretary (PH & WHO), MOHFW graced the occasion as chief guest and Mr Md. Azam-E-Sadat, Deputy Secretary (WHO) and Programme Manager-Tobacco Control chaired the session.

In training sessions, Mr Goutam Aich Sarker (Joint Secretary, MOHFW),  Mr Md. Azam-E-Sadat (Programme Manager-Tobacco Control), Dr S Mahfuzul Huq (Technical Officer-Tobacco Control, WHO), Mr Taifur Rahman (Advocacy and Media Coordinator, CTFK) and Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam (Director- Program & Planning, WBB Trust) have discussed on Global tobacco epidemic and Bangladesh perspective, Tobacco control law 2005 and Amended Tobacco control law 2013, WHO FCTC and MPOWER package, TAPS ban and Smoke Free policies, Role of District and Upazila Taskforce committee on tobacco control. Later on an open discussion on was facilitated by Mr Amin Ul Ahsan (Coordinator, NTCC).

The executive magistrates have reiterated the importance of law implementation and they have shown their high commitment in implementing the TC law at district and upazilla level. They also gave few precious recommendations for policy implication.