It's World No Tobacco Day: Campaign Goals

This Friday, May 31, is World No Tobacco Day. The Ministry of Health, in partnership with the WHO, takes this opportunity to inform and educate the population about the harmful and fatal effects of active and passive smoking.

World No Tobacco Day: what are the goals of the campaign

On World No Tobacco Day, it is high time to reflect on the fact that tobacco, which kills an estimated 6 million people every year across the globe, is the leading cause of premature and preventable death worldwide.. What is most shocking is that more than 600,000 of these victims are non-smokers, unwittingly exposed to tobacco smoke. Among the tobacco-related diseases, we can especially distinguish cancers (mainly of the lungs as well as of the respiratory tract), tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases and respiratory pathologies. According to statistics on smoking in France, in 2015 the number of deaths from smoking was 75,000.

The Ministry of Health would like to point out that our lungs are exposed in the first line to pollution by tobacco and that the consequences for our health in general are serious. It is important to know that quitting smoking has an almost immediate positive impact. Thus, for example, after 48 hours of stopping, respiratory function improves; after 1 year of stopping, breathing has become normal and the risk of myocardial infarction is reduced by half.

Through a series of regulatory, legislative and preventive measures, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control commits all member countries to put in place effective tobacco control policies. In order to better fight against smoking, the Ministry of Health has set up a smoking cessation program in collaboration with the CNS, offering support for smokers during their quitting by a health professional.