Case studyPublic Health
P.A.C.T — Tobacco Control
Pakistan’s first digital and policy advocacy campaign on tobacco control, and the only civil society effort to engage a sitting Prime Minister directly on the issue.
- Donor
- Bloomberg Philanthropies
- Duration
- Active 6 years
- Partner
- Bloomberg Philanthropies
Challenge
The Challenge
Tobacco use is linked to 450 deaths every day in Pakistan. Tax tiers and category loopholes kept cigarettes cheap and accessible, and no sustained civil society campaign had carried the issue into national policy.
Intervention
The Intervention
A sustained digital and policy advocacy campaign combining strategic media interventions, youth mobilization and direct engagement with legislators, becoming the only civil society organization to take the issue to a sitting Prime Minister.
Result
The Result
A run of policy victories: a 153% increase in tobacco tax, the elimination of the “third-tier” category that had kept a tax loophole open, provincial bans on tobacco and emerging nicotine products in all educational institutions, World No Tobacco Day institutionalized as a national event, and an end to the export of 10-stick cigarette packs.
- 153%
- increase in tobacco tax
- 36%
- reduction in consumption over six years
- 450
- daily deaths linked to tobacco use in Pakistan
Policy achievements
No other civil society organization has taken Pakistan’s tobacco fight directly to a sitting Prime Minister.
Taxation
153% increase in tobacco tax, a globally recognized policy victory
Tax loopholes
Elimination of the “third-tier” tobacco category, closing tax loopholes
Education
Provincial bans on tobacco and emerging nicotine products in all educational institutions
National observance
World No Tobacco Day institutionalized as a national event
Exports
Stopped the export of 10-stick cigarette packs
Consumption
36% reduction in tobacco consumption over six years
