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On 31st May each year WHO celebrates World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce consumption. Tobacco use is the second cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide.
The theme of World No Tobacco Day 2009 is tobacco health warnings, with an emphasis on the picture warnings that have been shown to be particularly effective at making people aware of the health risks of tobacco use and convincing them to quit. More and more countries are fighting back against the epidemic of tobacco by requiring that packages of tobacco show the dangers of the product's use, as called for in guidelines to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
WHO created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and its lethal effects. Tobacco is the number one preventable epidemic that the health community faces.
10 comments:
Smoking is increasing in Maldives. Not surprising at all. drugs also increasing.
Now why is this so called Smoking thing so appealing to youth. Is it our resistance to it. We prohibit by force these things in the schools instead of making the kid learn and see for themselves the danger of smoking.
Now when you resist something, it will always come back to haunt. These kids grow up waiting to puff this thing (in public) as soon as they finish school.
If one lets the kid or the grownup to find out it by themselves, it is much more effective. When you see truely the evil in smoking your self, you will never go back to it. Instead of pretending to have realized the dangers just by reading a sign or seeing a picture.
How about giving a piece of advice to your all time favourite HEP ANNI about quiting the disgusting habit of his smoking habit? charity bigins at home.
To anon 9:16, I don't believe in giving ADVICE in this types of issues. it does not work. in the right circumstances I do give information on the dangers of smoking. it's for the individual to make an informed decision. BTW if you think smoking is 'disgusting' then you are in a minority among Maldivians.
In most cases where our health is very serious concerned i do believe that doctors medical advice works to a great extent. and preferably i`m so happy to be with minority who see smoking is really a disgusting habit.
If anything feels good, it raises cholesterol, causes cancer or is a sin. Have a nice day.
Many people stop smoking when they have a heart attack. so shock treatment seems to be the best remedy for this.
Breaking News
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Anni has stopped his smoking parties on President's office terrace. Now Zaki will be sad to lose Anni's company at the terrace.This is also the time Zaki uses to "eat away Anni's brains."
Dr. Waheed,
I heard recently on TVM that some health sector officials are going to propose legislation to tax cigarettes, ie a Sin Tax. The logic being that by making cigarettes prohibitively expensive to the young, the government can reduce smokers. Also they will ban selling individual cigarettes (only packs can be sold), and licensing of cigarette sellers.
I am not a smoker myself, but isnt this a bit over the line. I fear that this will actually create a black market for cheap cigarettes. It will also increase the crimes too since someone who need to smoke will beg, borrow or steal.
And plus, why should everyone else care that a smoker choose to buy individual cigarettes or pack? Its none of ours or states business i think.
What do you think, is this a good path to follow?
@ Meekaaku: Personlly I am against Sin tax or any dedicated tax for a particular sector. My view is all tax must be pooled and distributed through budget allocation. But many of the provisions in the proposed law are based on research. For example:
1. It has been proven by research that the demand for cigarettes is elastic. As price rises there is a predictable decrease in demand.
2. The idea of not selling separate cigarettes is to make it more difficult to buy (only someone with about 20 rufiya can buy a pack). While this is an idea, as far as I know there is no strong research proof for this.
3. In order to prevent cheap cigarettes from coming in, what has been suggested is to set a fixed duty on each individual cigarette stick, instead of setting the tax based on price. Thus for example if each stick is taxed 1 rufiya, whether it is Camels or a cheap Indonesian brand, it will not be worthwhile importing the Indonesian brand because nobody will be willing to pay more than I rufiyaa for such cheap products.
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