mCessation Programme 
(Quit Tobacco for Life)

About the Initiative:

As per Global Adult Tobacco Survey India (GATS 2010), nearly 35% of the adults in India (15 years and above) i.e. 275 million persons, consume tobacco in some form or the other. Tobacco kills almost one million persons in India every year. Tobacco is also a major risk factor for cancer, CVDs, chronic lung diseases & stroke. There is huge demand for quitting tobacco use among the users as per Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

 Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in partnership with World Health Organisation and the International Telecommunications Union, has started an initiative for utilising mobile technology for tobacco cessation. WHO-ITU’s ‘Be Healthy Be Mobile’ initiative, aims to reach out to tobacco users of all categories who want to quit tobacco use and support them towards successful quitting through constant text messaging on mobile phones. The initiative is fully supported by the Government of India.

Content adaptation and web-based messaging were developed by  Centre for Addiction Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore.