- Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) holds World No Tobacco Day on May 31.
- Their goal is to spread awareness about the risks of tobacco use and how we can make the world tobacco free.
- Roughly 6 million people die from tobacco-related ailments every year. And that number is projected to rise to over 8 million by 2030.
- The Sustainable Development Agenda aims to reduce deaths from noninfectious diseases by a third.
- The Member States of 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.
- In 1987, the World Health Assembly passed Resolution WHA40.38, calling for 7 April 1988 to be a “a world no-smoking day.”
- In 1988, Resolution WHA42.19 was passed, calling for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day, every year on 31 May.
- The day has been met with both enthusiasm and resistance around the globe from governments, public health organizations, smokers, growers, and the tobacco industry.
- WNTD is one of 11 official global public health campaigns marked by the WHO, along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day, World Malaria Day, World Hepatitis Day, World Chagas Disease Day, World Patient Safety Day, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and World AIDS Day.
Since 1988 the WHO has presented one or more awards to organizations or individuals who have made exceptional contributions to reducing tobacco consumption.
