Today is World No Tobacco Day – Tobacco Will Kill 8 Million People By 2030 Says WHO

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Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths.

Tobacco use causes about 6 million deaths every year and of these 600,000 are due to second-hand smoke. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 8 million people will die due to use of tobacco by the year 2030.

It was in the year 1987, that WHO designated May 31 as the World No Tobacco Day, in order to draw global attention to risks associated with tobacco use. In 2005, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control took effect and according to this almost 175 countries, who have embraced the treaty, protect public health against tobacco use by using various measures like increased pricing, regulation of product contents, packaging, advertising etc to reduce demand for tobacco. A reduction in tobacco use by about 20% can prevent the occurrence of over 100 million premature deaths by 2020.

Tobacco causes respiratory diseases, heart diseases, cancers and many others. Use of tobacco is one of the leading preventable risks of non-communicable diseases. This year, the World No Tobacco Day comes at a time when the governments and international health communities are trying to implement measures to reduce the global menace of tobacco and protect health of people. There is tremendous opposition from the tobacco industry; however, the efforts continue.

Stop Tobacco Industry Interference - WHO theme for 2012

The WHO has selected ‘Stop Tobacco Industry Interference’ as the theme for 2012 World No Tobacco Day on May 31^st.

Uphold the vision of a tobacco-free world by observing and supporting the cause of World No Tobacco Day.