World No Tobacco Day is today, 31 May

Today is World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), a day convened by the Tobacco Free Initiative within the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote a tobacco-free world.  Tobacco is cited by the WHO to be "public health enemy number one."  It single-handedly causes 6 million deaths a year and is responsible for one-tenth of cardiovascular disease worldwide.  Because of this, one of the World Heart Federation strategic goals is to advance a tobacco-free world. 

In addition to tobacco itself being a public health enemy, the tobacco industry poses a threat to countries worldwide due to their interference with tobacco control efforts.  This has been demonstrated recently through the fight for plain packaging of cigarettes within Australia.  The theme of this year's World No Tobacco Day is tobacco industry interference with the hopes that raising awareness of the tobacco industry's tactics will encourage world leaders to be vigilant in standing up against big tobacco.

At the World Health Assembly last week, world leaders agreed to a goal to reduce premature mortality due to cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 25 per cent by 2025.  Crucial to achieving this goal will be fighting against tobacco use and we invite you to join us in this fight in honor of World No Tobacco Day.

For more information 

See the WHO release on World No Tobacco Day >

See the press release from the Global Smokefree Partnership >

Access World No Tobacco Day resources >

Access materials on tobacco industry interference >

Find out more about tobacco control and see also new World Heart Federation/ITC/WHO report on Cardiovascular Harms From Tobacco and  Secondhand Smoke >

Find out more about the goal to reduce NCD deaths by 25 per cent by 2025 >

Join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #WNTD