Our first ever fight against tobacco initiated in 2014 when a group of our students identified the burden of tobacco consumption among long route truck drivers they identified at the Shireen Jinnah Colony Karachi. This project started with the screening for oral cancers and pre-cancerous lesions among those truck drivers as a result of long-term involuntary consumption of tobacco in all possible forms. In the 2nd phase an awareness session was launched inviting all truck drivers who participated in our quit program through 4-A’s Quit Program. Dr. Shahzad Alam from World Health Organization who leads the National Anti-Tobacco Initiative Program was specially invited to deliver a lecture followed by a focus group discussion with the truck drivers to identify possible solutions to quit tobacco consumption. The project was carried out for short term period of two years resulting in only around 10% reduction in the consumption of tobacco (mostly in smokeless form).
