November 25, 2025 \u2014 The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) convened an interactive discussion with journalists to spotlight the expanding dangers of tobacco and new nicotine products targeting Pakistani children and adolescents. The session focused on strengthening media engagement to counter misinformation and protect youth from addictive products.<\/p>\n
Dr. Khalil Ahmad Dogar<\/strong>, Program Manager at SPARC, presented alarming national figures and warned that tobacco continues to impose a heavy health burden on Pakistan. He said thousands lose their lives to tobacco each year and that the country still carries a high prevalence of smokers. Dr. Dogar highlighted that nearly 1,200 children in Pakistan start smoking every day, a statistic that underscores the urgency of confronting youth tobacco and the aggressive marketing tactics of the industry.<\/p>\n Dr. Dogar acknowledged Pakistan\u2019s commitment to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and noted progress on several control measures, while stressing that full implementation of FCTC\u2019s MPOWER components remains possible through adoption of international best practices. He urged coordinated efforts among government agencies, civil society and the media to raise public awareness and close enforcement gaps.<\/p>\n The discussion also addressed the rising promotion of emerging nicotine products that are often presented as “less harmful” alternatives. Dr. Dogar cautioned that such claims are misleading and designed to confuse young people, and he called for stronger regulation, transparent evidence based communication and immediate action to prevent new products from reversing gains against youth tobacco.<\/p>\n Journalists at the meeting were urged to continue their role in exposing deceptive industry tactics and informing the public. Participants reaffirmed a commitment to responsible reporting and emphasized the need for continuous capacity building so media professionals can track evolving nicotine trends and the latest regulatory frameworks under FCTC.<\/p>\n The session concluded with a collective pledge to strengthen youth engagement, expand evidence based awareness initiatives and amplify media advocacy across Pakistan. Speakers emphasized that urgent, coordinated media action on youth tobacco is essential to safeguard the health and future of the country\u2019s young generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SPARC urges action on youth tobacco as journalists pledge to counter nicotine misinformation and strengthen media advocacy across Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":14602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}