Youth makes postcard competition a big success as Chromatic vows to continue its efforts to create awareness to ban nicotine pouches and modern tobacco products  

In an effort to make Pakistan tobacco-free, Chromatic Trust has successfully completed the second round of awareness campaigns to ban nicotine pouches and modern tobacco products involving the youth of age between 8 to 25 to send a clear message that tobacco in any form is unacceptable through this post card competition.

During this month-long digital campaign, Chromatic Trust encouraged youth to use their creative minds to design postcards digitally on Photoshop, illustrator or any other software demanding ban on nicotine pouches and other modern tobacco products.

More than 500 entries were received during this postcard competition from all across Pakistan. The jury of experts chose 22 years old Navroz Vadsaria from Karachi as the winner of the first prize which is 50,000 rupees, 20-year-old Um e Rubab from Islamabad won the second prize of 20,000 rupees and 25-year-old Abdul Rehman Nagi from Lahore won the third prize of 10,000 rupees.

All 500 entries were displayed during the art walk in the event which took place in a local hotel in Islamabad where health experts, policymakers, media personnel and students were present.

Special Advisor to Prime Minister Mr. Faisal Karim Kundi congratulated Chromatic Trust’s CEO Mr. Shariq Khan for initiating this competition and said those who participated in this postcard competition are all winners.

He appreciated the efforts of Chromatic Trust for sensitizing children at schools, colleges, and university on the harmful effects of nicotine pouches and E-cigarettes. He assured his full support in order to restrict the sale of nicotine pouches to adolescents. Convener Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs Ms. Romina Khursheed Alam said this post card competition is a wonderful way to create awareness among youth. She said tobacco kills over 8 million people every year and we need to do a collective effort to curb this menace. Former-senator Ms Sehar Kamran emphasized that the main target of these new harmful products is young girls. She assured her full support and said will raise this issue in policy corridors as well.

CEO of Chromatic Trust, Mr. Shariq Khan said the idea of this postcard competition was to target the youth of Pakistan because tobacco companies are targeting youth with new products to make them addicts. He requested the government to ban the marketing of nicotine pouches to minors through social media.

Mr. Shariq Khan thanked every child who participated in this competition and said their parents deserve special thanks for encouraging their children to become a part of this campaign to make Pakistan tobacco-free.

Mr. Khan said nicotine pouches and modern tobacco products are a threat to everyone, irrespective of age or gender. Young people should bear in mind that nicotine pouches are not like any other consumer products it is hazardous and it causes death and diseases. Country Director CTFK, Malik Imran congratulated Chromatic Trust for successfully completing the awareness campaign and stressed the need to continue this competition every year for the durability of tobacco control efforts because this activity has resulted in a considerable decline in nicotine pouches and modern tobacco product use.

Malik Imran further said tobacco is a leading cause of mortalities in Pakistan and around the world. He explained that tobacco is responsible for 7 million deaths in the world yearly of which 6 million people die due to tobacco consumption and around 600,000 due to exposure to second-hand smoke.

It is pertinent to mention that this postcard competition is the continuity of last year’s Chromatic awareness drive through which the trust’s message was conveyed to millions of children across Pakistan about the dangers of smoking and how it harms their precious health. The success of last year’s competition compelled Chromatic to continue its efforts through social and digital media with an aim to aware youth of the side effects of tobacco products, especially nicotine pouches.