World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on May 31. It is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe. The day is further intended to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects, which currently lead to nearly 6 million deaths each year worldwide, including 6,00,000 of which are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
The member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day in 1987. In 2008, on the eve of the World No Tobacco Day, WHO called for a worldwide ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. The theme of that year’s day was ‘Tobacco-free youth’; therefore, this initiative was especially meant to target advertising efforts aimed at youth. According to WHO, the objective of the tobacco industry is to replace older quitting or dying smokers with younger consumers. Because of this, marketing strategies are commonly observed in places that will attract youth such as movies, the Internet, billboards, and magazines. Studies have shown that the more youth are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to smoke.
In India AIIMS doctors have reportedly recommended that pictorial warnings on tobacco packets be extended to cover 80 per cent of the size of the packaging. Doctors at AIIMS said tobacco use initiation is coming at a much younger age – at less than 10 years. “At a younger age, tobacco acts like a gateway drug meaning young tobacco users start using more drugs as they grow older”.
The aim of World No Tobacco Day 2015 is to raise awareness on the harm to people’s health caused by the illicit trade in tobacco products, especially to the youth and low-income groups, due to the increased accessibility and affordability of these products due to their lower costs.
The aim of the World No Tobacco Day is to show how health care gains and programs, tobacco control policies, like increased tax and prices, pictorial health warnings and other measures are undermined by the illicit trade. The day is to highlight how the illicit trade of tobacco products is a means of amassing great wealth for criminal groups to finance other organized crime activities, including drugs, human and arms trafficking, as well as terrorism. Unless there is concrete action on the ground, tobacco use will kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030. More than 80% of these preventable deaths will be among people living in low-and middle-income countries.
