World No Tobacco Day

Every year, on May 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners mark “World No Tobacco Day” (WNTD), highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco use.

People can contribute on an individual level to making a sustainable, tobacco-free world. Individuals can commit to avoiding tobacco use altogether. Those who do use tobacco can quit the habit or

seek help in doing so. Quitting will protect their health as well as others exposed to second-hand smoke, including children, other family members and friends. People who do not spend money on

tobacco products can use those resources for other things to promote a healthy lifestyle including the purchase of healthy food, healthcare and education. Communities can take action to increase

support for tobacco-free norms to help in the battle against tobacco use, the number one cause of preventable death in New York, the United States and around the world.

The focus of World No Tobacco Day 2018 is “Tobacco and Heart Disease.” The campaign aims to increase awareness about the link between tobacco and heart and other cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including stroke, which combined are the world’s leading causes of death; feasible actions and measures that key audiences, including governments and the public, can take to reduce the risks to heart health posed by tobacco. The global tobacco epidemic kills more than 7 million people each year, of which close to 900 000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. Nearly 80% of the more than 1 billion smokers worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.