Bengaluru: BBMP Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar on Friday announced that the city will see a stronger enforcement of tobacco control norms in the coming months as part of the Partnership for Healthy Cities, a prestigious global network of 70 cities committed to saving lives by preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs, such as cancer or diabetes and injuries). The Partnership for Healthy Cities has grown from 54 to 70 cities covering a population of over 300 million people around the globe.
Mr Kumar said that in addition to an ongoing drive to ensure public places are compliant with tobacco control norms, the Palike, in association with stakeholders, has been carrying out campaigns on social media, radio shows and is spreading messages on autorickshaws. “Such efforts have brought honour to the civic body and it recently received best performing city award at the 2019 Asia-Pacific Cities Alliance for Tobacco Control and NCDs Prevention held in Indonesia.
The enforcement drive to ensure Bengaluru becomes smoke-free will be intensified to achieve more results under the ongoing second phase of the Smoke-free Bengaluru initiative,” he said.
The Partnership for Healthy Cities is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as Vital Strategies.
