BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: The Railways Act 1890 restricted smoking in train compartments and tobacco control law 2005 banned smoking in public places (including railway stations, and offices) and public transport (including trains). From 2021, the Ministry of Railways (MoR) and Bangladesh Railway (BR) are devotedly working on tobacco control to ensure tobacco-free railway and installed large-medium-and-small no-smoking signages and removed tobacco selling shops from trains and railway stations. As the MoR initiatives to tobacco-free railways initiated, BAT and JTI reached the station managers to build smoking zones at the railway stations.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: Once the tobacco-free railway team informed that TI’s influence BR officials to create smoking zones. The MoR initiated preparing guidelines for FCTC Article 5.3 implementation to prevent TIIs. MoR formed a drafting committee with the inclusion of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Vital Strategies, and anti-tobacco organizations. MoR finalize the guidelines through several stakeholders’ meetings and sensitization workshops and receive approval from higher authority. MoR circulated the guidelines, in both printed and online versions, to the MoR and BR officials, also organized sensitization meetings and workshops to let the officials understand the guidelines in full and roles to ensure its effective implementation and provided direction to follow the guidelines to prevent TII.
RESULTS AND IMPACT: The Ministry of Railways is first government organization in Bangladesh that adopted a guideline on FCTC article 5.3 implementation that is a milestone for tobacco control. The anti-tobacco organizations are now advocating with Ministry of Health and other government-academic and non-government organizations to adopt such guidelines to prevent TII with showcasing the MoR guidelines.
CONCLUSIONS: MoR leading role on adoption of FCTC Article 5.3 implementation guidelines is influencing other GO-NGOs to make the governance system free from tobacco industry interferences. Many organization is following the MoR guidelines including the Ministry of Health, that is a success ​of MoR.