Tobacco products marketing in urban Bangladesh – a rapid assessment

Introduction: smoking is a common phenomenon in Bangladesh alike many other developing countries. There are more than 57,000 deaths attributed to tobacco use each year, about one in six of all deaths among Bangladeshis of 30 years or older.

Method: The rapid assessment covered 90 wards of Dhaka city where total 43 dealers identified and selected as respondent. The assessment followed cross-sectional design using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In addition relevant documents, contents and literature were reviewed to identify the context and relevance for the rapid assessment.

Results: The rapid assessment shows that both “British American Tobacco Company” (BATC) (37.2%) and “Dhaka Tobacco” (37.2%) behold majority part of the cigarette dealers. While “Abul Khayer” behold major part (94%) of the Bidi dealership and 25.6% cigarette dealership around Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) areas. The study reveals that within last three years the amount of money earned by selling cigarettes has increased significantly. In 2008 around 30.2% of the dealers earned more than 10 crore which rose to 46.5% in 2010. This implies, according to the product selling amount within last three years the business of selling cigarettes has grown significantly.

Conclusion: Unfortunately Bangladesh is still one of the lowest tobacco priced country, making this deadly commodity more available to the people living under poverty line. Measures need to be undertaken to increase tobacco taxes significantly to solve this issue.