Dr Waseem Iftikhar Janjua, Senior Researcher at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan, has also been honoured with the World Health Organisation’s World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2026 Award for his outstanding efforts in advancing tobacco control and public health initiatives.

The WNTD Award is presented annually to individuals or organisations from each of the six WHO Regions in recognition of their outstanding contributions to tobacco control.

In Pakistan, tobacco causes an estimated 164,000 deaths and economic losses of over PKR 1,800 billion (around US$6.6 billion) each year.

WHO warns that children and youth are particularly exposed to and targeted by the tobacco and nicotine industries, which design their products to get young people stuck in a cycle of addiction.

Pakistan ratified the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2004, and the WHO provides continuous technical support to the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and the Federal Board of Revenue in areas such as tobacco tax policy and track-and-trace implementation.

Since 2014.

Under the umbrella of WHO’s FCTC, Pakistan has implemented key policy changes to reduce tobacco consumption, including a 208% increase in tobacco taxation during the fiscal year 2022–2023 (which remained unchanged in subsequent years), larger pictorial health warnings on tobacco packaging, a ban on the sale of loose cigarettes nationwide, the National Tobacco Control Strategy 2022–2030, and the establishment of provincial Tobacco Control Cells and Implementation and Monitoring Committees, among others.

Extensive scientific evidence confirms that all tobacco and nicotine products on the market, including licit and illicit products, and items such as e-cigarettes or nicotine patches, are extremely harmful to health and pose a major risk to vulnerable populations such as children and teenagers.

Tobacco kills up to half of its users who don’t quit. A leading cause of preventable death, it causes cardiovascular and lung disease, strokes, and multiple cancers.