World No Tobacco Day
The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2017 is “Tobacco – a threat to development.”
World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the globe every year on May 31. It is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe.
The member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day in 1987.
More than 7 million deaths from tobacco use every year, a figure that is predicted to grow to more than 8 million a year by 2030 without intensified action.
Tobacco use is a threat to any person, regardless of gender, age, race, cultural or educational background. It brings suffering, disease, and death, impoverishing families and national economies
Tobacco growing requires large amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, which can be toxic and pollute water supplies. Each year, tobacco growing uses 4.3 million hectares of land, resulting in global deforestation between 2% and 4%. Tobacco manufacturing also produces over 2 million tonnes of solid waste.
Key Facts
- Tobacco kills up to half of its users.
- The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 7 million people each year. More than 6 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 890 000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
- Nearly 80% of the world’s more than 1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.
Source & Image: www.who.int
