Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Health Affairs, Dr SM Ziauddin Hyder, addressed a seminar at the BMA Building in the capital today. Photo: BSS

DHAKA, June 24, 2026 (BSS)- Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Health Affairs Dr SM Ziauddin Hyder today said the government is committed to taking effective tobacco control measures, including increasing the prices of tobacco products in the national budget to protect public health.

“Budget for 2026-27 fiscal year has created an important opportunity to adopt effective measures for public health protection,” he said while addressing a seminar titled “Protecting Public Health from the Harmful Effects of Tobacco: Challenges and the Way Forward” at the BMA Building in the capital.

The seminar was jointly organized by the Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) and the Development Organization of the Rural Poor (DORP).

Dr Hyder said protecting public health and strengthening tobacco control were among the key commitments in the ruling party's election manifesto.

Marking ‘World No Tobacco Day’, Prime Minister Tareq Rahman reiterated the government's firm stance on protecting children, adolescents and future generations from the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine, he recalled.

Presenting the keynote paper, tobacco control expert Jeba Afroza said public health experts had proposed reducing the existing four-tier cigarette pricing structure to three tiers to simplify tax collection and discourage tobacco use.

She said the proposal included merging the low and medium cigarette tiers and fixing the retail price of a 10-stick cigarette pack at Taka 100. It also suggested retaining the existing 67 percent supplementary duty on all cigarette tiers while imposing a specific tax of Taka 4 per 10-stick pack.

If implemented, tobacco products would become less affordable, particularly for young people, she added.

Director of Dhaka University’s Health Economics Institute Dr Shafiun Nahin said the proposed budget only marginally increased cigarette prices.
“The price of a 10-stick pack in the low-tier segment has been increased from Taka 60 to Taka 62, although nearly 75 percent of cigarettes sold in the country belong to this category,” he said.

He argued that the increase was insufficient to discourage tobacco use, particularly when inflation remains above nine percent.

According to Nahin, tobacco companies could earn an additional tax-free profit of around Taka 5,512 crore from low-tier cigarette sales, resulting in a significant loss of potential government revenue.

Speakers at the seminar thanked the government for taking steps to amend tobacco control laws and expressed hope that further measures would be taken in line with election commitments to protect future generations.

As the chief discussant, DAB Secretary General Dr Md Zahirul Islam said the proposed budget had imposed taxes on nicotine pouches, nicotine granules and Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs), effectively granting legal recognition to these emerging nicotine products.

He warned that such measures could facilitate market expansion and increase the risk of nicotine addiction, especially among young people and adolescents.

Presiding over the seminar, DAB President Professor Dr Harun Al Rashid urged the government to reconsider the tax and pricing structure of low-tier cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products in the 2026-27 national budget.

He said implementation of the recommendations made by public health and tobacco control experts could generate nearly Taka 44,000 crore in additional revenue for the government.
At the same time, he added, around 500,000 adult smokers could be encouraged to quit smoking, 372,000 young people could be prevented from initiating smoking and nearly 400,000 premature deaths could be averted in the long term.

DORP Founder and CEO AHM Noman gave welcome address while Deputy Executive Director Mohammad Zobayer Hasan moderated the seminar.

Health Sector Director of Dhaka Ahsania Mission Iqbal Masud, Head of Epidemiology and Research Department at National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute Professor Dr Sohel Reza Choudhury, DAB members and youth representatives, among others, attended the programme.