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It is the first national tobacco control mass media campaign to promote a “quit smoking” helpline, said Vital Strategies which provided technical assistance for this campaign. The PSA will be broadcast in 17 languages over a period of three weeks on the channels of public service broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio for pan-India reach.
The campaign will also run on major digital media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Hotstar and Voot, it said. According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), India, 2017, there has been a reduction in exposure to SHS in India since 2009-2010 (the time of the last GATS India report), but a large proportion of adults and children are still exposed to this invisible killer.
Exposure to SHS in public spaces reduced from 29 percent to 23 percent and exposure at home reduced from 52 percent to 39 percent, but exposure in the workplace rose marginally from 29.9 percent to 30.2 percent, the survey said. Fully comprehensive smoke-free laws, with no exemptions, are more effective in protecting smokers and non-smokers, it said.
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“It will increase support for strong enforcement of India’s smoke-free laws, increase traffic to the national quitline and Cessation website at the National Health Portal, and help to discourage people from consuming tobacco in any form,” Murukutla said.