Barishal Conference on Tobacco or Health 2026 Highlights Path to Tobacco-Free Bangladesh
· Ashwini Kumar Town Hall in Barishal
Barishal Division has the highest literacy rate in the country at 84.3 percent, according to the latest Population and Housing Census. Speakers at the Barishal Conference on Tobacco or Health 2026 said that if this educational strength is properly utilized, Barishal can become a national role model in tobacco control and public health protection. The day-long conference was held on Sunday, 18 October 2026, at the Ashwini Kumar Town Hall in Barishal city under the slogan:
“Do we want to use tobacco products (cigarettes, bidis, e-cigarettes, jarda, gul, sadapata, etc.), or do we want a healthy and beautiful life?”
Development Activities of the Society (DAS) played an active cooperative role in the conference as a member of the organizing committee. The DAS tobacco control team also contributed by sharing practical field experiences and presenting research findings. DAS has long been working to make public transport—especially water and river transport—completely tobacco-free across Bangladesh.
The inaugural session began with a welcome address by Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam, Chairman of the Steering Committee. A.K.M. Maksud, Executive Director of the Grambangla Unnayan Committee and Member Secretary of the conference, presented the keynote paper titled “Tobacco-Free Bangladesh by 2040: From Political Commitment to Effective Implementation.”
Special guests included Bashir Gazi (Additional District Magistrate, Jhalokathi), Dr. Md. Mahbubur Rahman (former Divisional Director of Health, Barishal), Abdul Kader (Director, Setu), Iqbal Masud (Director, Health & WASH, Dhaka Ahsania Mission), Professor Md. Akhtaruzzaman Khan (Principal, Government Syed Hatem Ali College), Kashfia Kabir Oishi (Executive Magistrate, Barishal), A.H.M. Samsul Islam Dipu (Executive Director, Speed Trust), and Kazi Jahangir Kabir (Executive Director, Saint Bangladesh). Shubhankar Chakraborty, Convener of the Organizing Committee, delivered the concluding remarks.
In the technical session, Moazzem Hossain Tipu, Programme Manager of the DAS Tobacco Control Team, presented a paper on “Tobacco-Free Water Transport Systems.” He shared practical experiences from DAS’s ongoing work with the Ministry of Shipping, BIWTA, BIWTC, launch owners, and terminal authorities to enforce the tobacco control law on ferries, launches, and river ports. The DAS tobacco control team has previously published two experience-sharing articles documenting their field-level initiatives, challenges, and successes in making water transport smoke-free. These experiences were also reflected during the conference discussions.
Other presentations covered local evidence generation (Md. Zakaria Habib, BCCP), the link between tuberculosis and tobacco (Firoz Ahmed, NATAB), flaws in tobacco tax policy (Ibrahim Khalil, University of Dhaka), and tobacco-free campus policies (Mohammad Jabir Bin Solaiman). Speakers repeatedly stressed the need for joint efforts by government institutions, civil society, and organizations like DAS to raise awareness, protect youth from tobacco industry tactics, and ensure strict enforcement of the tobacco control law.
The conference was conducted by Sadia Rahman and Rafia Islam of the Grambangla Unnayan Committee. Through its active cooperation and technical contribution, Development Activities of the Society (DAS) reaffirmed its commitment to building a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040, with special focus on making all forms of public transport, especially water transport, completely smoke-free.