India becomes the first country to launch a national mass media campaign establishing the link between smoking and TB
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), Government of India, has launched the world’s first national tobacco control mass media campaign to warn people of the increased risk of tuberculosis (TB) and dying from TB associated with smoking cigarettes, bidis, or being exposed to second-hand smoke.
The campaign is centred on a Public Service Announcement (PSA) entitled ‘TB-Cough,’ which has been developed and implemented with technical support from Vital Strategies. “TB Cough,” launched to coincide with this World No Tobacco Day, graphically shows that while a smoker’s cough tells the smoker they have a health problem, a persistent cough over two weeks or more could indicate that problem is TB, as smoking increases the risk of TB and dying from TB.
Reportedly the 30-second long PSA was rigorously pretested with a target audience who found that TB Cough was easy to understand, believable, made respondents stop and think, and made respondents feel more concerned about smoking around others.
The PSA ends with the stark warning that “Every bidi cigarette brings you and those around you closer to TB.” The campaign will be broadcast for a duration of two weeks on all major government and private TV and radio channels, as well as community radio channels, in 17 languages, for pan-India reach.
José Luis Castro, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vital Strategies, commented, “We congratulate the MoH&FW on the launch of this important campaign, which will reach millions of Indians. The campaign sends out a strong message to citizen across the country. We also need policymakers to heed its message, and take action. The prevention of tobacco use and TB requires urgent attention both at the state and national level, and would be accelerated by using the new GST to tax bidis commensurate with their harm.”
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