Office of The Communication Unit
The Ministry of Health (MOH) in collaboration with the World Health Organization, local and international partners joined the rest of the world in observant of the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on Friday May 31, 20 19.
World No Tobacco Day is celebrated around the world every year on May 31, by its Member States. The World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the preventable death and disease it causes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) designed May 31, each year as the annual world No Tobacco Day (WNTD) and it is to be observed by each member state.
This year’s WNTD was being celebrated globally under the Theme “Tobacco and the Lungs Health”.
Local and international NGOs, Civil Society Organizations along with other government agencies joined the Ministry of Health and its partners at 10Am in the conference room of the TB Annex in oldest Congo town to observe this all important day.
Over the year’s many countries have been able to use WNTD as the starting date for implementing new smoking bans and tobacco control efforts, since it was designed in 1987 by WHO.
The celebration of this day was intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe. The day is further intended to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects, which currently lead to more than 7 million deaths each year worldwide, including 890,000 of which are the results of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
According to research, the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced.
Signed: Felecia Gbesia
Director of Communication MOH/RL