International health experts speaking at a harm reduction summit held Sunday, discussed the need to regulate less harmful alternatives of nicotine delivery in a risk-proportionate manner while urging authorities for stricter restrictions on traditional cigarettes, a press release said on Sunday. Notable public health experts, policymakers and media personnel gathered at the Bangladesh THR Summit 2023, to discuss the role of Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) in achieving the Honourable Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘Smoke-free Bangladesh’ by 2040.
THRis a public health strategy to reduce or minimize the health risks to individuals and wider society associated with the use of conventional tobacco products. THR amplifies the value of smoking cessation, but where smokers are unwilling or unable to quit, the use of innovative smoke free technologies, that deliver nicotine without the harmful bits – smoke or tar. These are also referred to as Reduced Risk Products or RRPs including the likes of vaping devices, oral nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products and other non-combustible alternatives of nicotine delivery. Currently, the U.K., Sweden, New Zealand, Canada and many other progressive nations of the world are encouraging the use of such products to reduce smoking incidence by regulating them through a risk-proportionate regulatory framework.
Moderated by Dr. Delon Human, the event featured globally renowned public health experts such as Dr. Derek Yach, Prof. Mihaela Raescu, Dr. Kgosi Letlape, Dr. Marewa Glover, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, and other experts such as Michael Landl, Masud-Uz-Zaman,Federico Fernandez with representation in the audience from ministries of industries, finance, commerce, home affairs, and other institutions such asBangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA). Dr. Derek Yach, former WHO Cabinet Director Dr. Delon Human, a former secretary general of World Medical Association and an adviser on global public health strategies to three Directors-General of the WHO and to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, Dr. Marewa Glover, a New Zealand public health academic specialising in smoking cessation, Dr.Konstantinos Farsalinos, a Greek cardiologist and the most cited THR researcher in the world, former president of the World Medical Association and founder of Africa Medical Association, Dr. Kgosi Letlape also shared their valuable opinions at the conference
