World No Tobacco Day
This Friday, May 31 2013, is World No Tobacco Day. It is an annual event when WHO and partners gather to advocate effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption by emphasizing the health risks attached to tobacco use. According to WHO, tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death globally. Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which 10% are non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke.
The ultimate goal of World No Tobacco Day is to advocate the protection of present and future generations from the health consequences attributed to tobacco use, as well as to raise awareness of the social, environmental and economic scourges of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.
This year, the theme for World No Tobacco Day 2013 is: ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. The 2013 campaign aims to encourage countries to implement WHO FCTC Article 13 and its guidelines to comprehensively ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. We also aim to drive local, national and international efforts to counteract tobacco industry efforts to undermine tobacco control.
The WHO FCTC Article 13 demands that all Parties under this treaty implement a comprehensive ban of all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship within five years of the entry into force of the Convention for that Party.This comprehensive ban is necessary because the partial bans that are currently in place prove to be ineffective. The tobacco industry fails to self-regulate, and thus youth and the general public continue to be misled by the deceptive nature of tobacco marketing campaigns. In fact, in 2010, it was estimated that only 6% of the world’s population was completely shielded from exposure to the tobacco industry through advertising. Statistics show that banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship is also one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce the demand for tobacco.
Please help us make World No Tobacco day a great success!
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