World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) – May 31

31st May is World No Tobacco Day focuses on awareness of health risks associated with tobacco use. This day is marked to draw attention to the negative health effects of tobacco.

World Tobacco Day is a day for people, non-governmental organizations, and governments to organize various activities and bring awareness to the health problems caused by tobacco use.

World No Tobacco Day 2024 theme is “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference.” To protect future generations and ensure that tobacco use continues to decline.

History of No Tobacco Day

It was created by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1987. The WHO Tobacco Free Initiative is committed to raising awareness of the threat posed by the global tobacco epidemic and of the steps that can be taken to reduce tobacco use and save lives.

WHO is highlighting how tobacco threatens the development of nations worldwide and is calling on governments to implement strong tobacco control measures. This includes banning marketing and advertising of tobacco products raising excise taxes and making indoor public places smoke-free.

Groups around the world — from local clubs to city councils to national governments — are encouraged by the WHO to organize events each year to help communities celebrate World No Tobacco Day in their own way at the local level. Past events have included letter-writing campaigns to government officials and local newspapers, marches, public debates, local and national publicity campaigns, anti-tobacco activist meetings, educational programming, and public ar

Many governments use WNTD as the start date for implementing new smoking bans and tobacco control efforts. The day has also been used as a springboard for discussing the current and future state of a country as it relates to tobacco—for example in India which, with 275 million tobacco users, has one of the highest levels of tobacco consumption in the world.

Tobacco use increases the likelihood of many illnesses including heart attacks, strokes, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), emphysema, and many forms of cancer. This is true for all forms of tobacco including:

Cigarettes and cigars
Pipes and water pipes
Chewing tobacco
Hand rolling tobacco
Bidis and kreteks (cigarettes containing tobacco with hes or spices)
Snuff
Snus (a moist version of snuff popular in some countries)
Creamy snuff
Gutkha (a version of chewing tobacco mixed with areca nut, catechu, slaked lime, and other condiments popular in Indian and Southeast Asia)

It’s never too late to stop using tobacco. As a member of the Employee Trust, you can take advantage of the Quit for Life smoking cessation program. Do it today!