Like other parts of the globe, the World No-Tobacco Day will be observed across the country, including the City, on Tuesday with the purpose to raising public awareness about the dangers of smoking. Seminars, workshops and walks will be organized both at the government and private level to mark the event.
Besides displaying banners and distributing awareness literature, leading healthcare institutions will organize conferences to highlight the complications caused to smokers, their family members, especially children.
Besides other healthcare centres in the City, Department of Pulmonology, Shaikh Zayed Hospital will organize various activities which include distribution of literature on tobacco use, awareness walk - hazards and tobacco control and display of banners outside the hospital.
World Health Organization celebrates World No Tobacco Day on May 31 every year for highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce consumption. Tobacco use is the second cause of death globally (after hypertension) and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide.
The World Health Assembly created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and its lethal effects. It provides an opportunity to highlight specific tobacco control messages and to promote adherence to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Tobacco use is the number one preventable epidemic that the health community faces.
The death toll caused by tobacco use is rising relentlessly, and will reach over 8 million a year in two decades, with more than 80 percent of these deaths occurring in the developing world. Unless major action is taken, it is estimated that up to one billion people could die from tobacco use during the 21st century.