World No Tobacco Day
On 31st May each year WHO celebrates World No Tobacco Day, 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 and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide.
In 2008, the theme of World No Tobacco Day was Tobacco-Free Youth. Young people are aggressively targeted by the tobacco industry which spends billions of dollars each year marketing its products. To protect the world’s youth from experimenting with tobacco and becoming regular users, the World No Tobacco Day 2008 campaign called for a ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
The theme of World No Tobacco Day 2009 is “Tobacco Health Warnings”, with an emphasis on the picture warnings that have been shown to be particularly effective at making people aware of the health risks of tobacco use and convincing them to quit. More and more countries are fighting back against the epidemic of tobacco by requiring that packages of tobacco show the dangers of the product’s use, as called for in guidelines to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Related links
• World No Tobacco Day site
• WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative
• More about tobacco abuse and control
Campaign Materials
• Brochure
• Flyer
• Posters
Media Materials
• Announcement
• WNTD Advertisement (free for downloading and publication)
Source: WHO
