World No Tobacco Day is being observed today. The objective is to highlight health and other risks associated with tobacco use, and advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.
The focus this year is “Tobacco and Heart Disease” to emphasize impact tobacco has on the cardiovascular health of people across the globe.
World No Tobacco Day 2018 aims to highlight the links between the use of tobacco products and heart and other cardiovascular diseases, increase awareness within the broader public of the impact tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke have on cardiovascular health.
It also aims to provide opportunities for the public, governments and others to make commitments to promote heart health by protecting people from use of tobacco products.
The global tobacco epidemic kills more than 7 million people each year, of which close to nine lakh are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. Tobacco causes over two million deaths from cardiovascular diseases every year.