World No Tobacco Day 2022: History, Significance And All You Need To Know

World No Tobacco Day is observed on May 31 to raise awareness about the damage caused by consuming tobacco. Consuming tobacco kills over 80 lakh people across the world every year. Besides the human cost, consuming tobacco also causes the environment to degrade. 

Tobacco consumption is one of the factors that are believed to adversely impact the efforts to achieve the UN–adopted sustainable development agenda by 2030, which aims to reduce tobacco-related deaths by one-third by that time.

Theme

The WHO member countries agreed to observe World No-Tobacco Day on May 31 in 1987. Since then, this day is marked each year with a relevant theme. For this year, the theme is “Protect The Environment”. As per WHO, “The harmful impact of the tobacco industry on the environment is vast and growing adding unnecessary pressure to our planet's already scarce resources and fragile ecosystems.”

Health Programmes

Every year, the World Health Organisation honours governments, organisations and individuals for their efforts and contributions to curbing tobacco use. This year, the WHO has selected Jharkhand for the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Award-2022. India runs a National Tobacco Control Programme to educate people about the health implications of tobacco consumption. It also helps formulate policies and initiatives that could help the country achieve its goal. This programme was extended to Jharkhand in 2012.

Health Implications

Tobacco consumption can lead to lung cancer, which mostly hits those with a substantial cigarette smoking history. Around 80 to 90 percent people diagnosed with lung cancer have a history of tobacco smoking. Tobacco is the leading cause of death for men and the second leading cause when both men and women are included.