Advocating for Effective Policies

Policy Advocacy Programme

National level policies to control alcohol and tobacco are necessary to drive forward prevention and create healthy, safe and happy environments for people, especially children. Policy and advocacy programme supports and works towards formulation and implementation of effective policies at national and local levels to discourage and control drug use, in line with international policies and recommendations. We work through different government structures, local governments, political parties, institutes, CBOs, media stations, communities and other structures.

We mobilized towards achieving the following key national policy milestones:

• The National Authority on Alcohol and Tobacco Act
• 80% pictorial health warnings (PHW) on cigarette packs
• Reversing the Finance Minister’s decision to import cigarettes from China
• Contributed to increasing alcohol taxation by 34% by the year 2024. The first increment occurred on the 1st of July 2023, amounting to 14%, and the second increment in alcohol tax took place on the 1st of January 2024, reaching 20%.