Shillong, Sep 10: The Tobacco-Free Village (TfV) Programme, has strengthened its position as a national leader in community-led tobacco control for a second consecutive year, the state government said in a press release today.
The programme was initiated in 2024 in East Khasi Hills and West Jaintia Hills by the National Health Mission (NHM) Meghalaya, in collaboration with the Meghalaya State Rural Livelihoods Society (MSRLS) and Sambandh Health Foundation (SHF).
Dr Nabaneeta D Mawrie of NHM Meghalaya said, “The Tobacco-Free Village programme is not about declaring villages tobacco-free on paper; it is about communities taking action. The model subsequently informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s standard operating procedures for villages to be tobacco-free.”
In the first year 264 village health councils (VHCs) out of 1,295 (or 20 per cent) across the two districts met the criteria to become tobacco-free. In the second year this figure more than doubled, with 531 VHCs (41 per cent) meeting the criteria, while 1,039 VHCs are now actively implementing the programme across the two districts.
With tobacco contributing to an estimated 8,000 deaths annually in Meghalaya, the growing reach of village-level prevention is an important public-health achievement. During the second year, more than 5,500 on-ground anti-tobacco activities were conducted, engaging more than 55,000 community members, the press release stated. Tobacco-related health issues and ways to prevent tobacco use are increasingly being discussed through VHC meetings, self-help group (SHG) meetings and community gatherings, reflecting growing community ownership of tobacco control in villages, it added.
A key strength of the Meghalaya model is that tobacco-free village title is achieved through community action and verified compliance, rather than simply through a declaration. VHCs appoint a TfV nodal officer, conduct tobacco-awareness discussions and community meetings, pass resolutions to restrict tobacco sale near schools, issue no-smoking orders for public places, install anti-tobacco signage, posters and conduct community awareness drives.
These actions are documented and verified and a VHC is recognised as tobacco-free after successfully completing and verifying at least five of the six prescribed activities. During the first year, senior officials from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organisation (WHO) visited participating villages and commended the community-driven model.
The initiative has been seeing visible impacts on the ground. The VHC chairperson of Mawmluh VHC in Shella block shared that around 40–50 per cent of villagers have stopped smoking or using tobacco in public places such as tea shops, bus stands and social gatherings, while about 60-70 per cent have stopped smoking inside their homes, particularly around infants and young children.
The third year of the TfV Programme began on September 1. In just two years a state known with nearly 50 per cent of its population being tobacco users is turning its villages into the frontline of the fight against it, the release said. “Community by community, home by home, Meghalaya is proving that tobacco-free living is not a distant goal but a reality being built right now – and setting the benchmark for the rest of India to follow.”
