World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on 31 May. The annual observance informs the public on the dangers of using tobacco, the business practices of tobacco companies, what the World Health Organization (WHO) is doing to fight against the use of tobacco, and what people around the world can do to claim their right to health and healthy living and to protect future generations.
The member states of the WHO created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the preventable death and disease it causes. The day is further intended to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use, whose negative health effects lead to more than 8 million deaths each year worldwide, including 1.2 million as the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. The day has been met with both enthusiasm and resistance around the globe from governments, public health organizations, smokers, growers, and the tobacco industry.
WHO and World No Tobacco Day
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.
Timeline In 1987, the WHO's World Health Assembly passed Resolution WHA40.38, calling for 7 April 1988 to be "a world no-smoking day". The objective of the day was to urge tobacco users worldwide to abstain from using tobacco products for 24 hours, an action they hoped would provide assistance for those trying to quit.Centres for Disease Control. 1990. ″MMWR Weekly″ (6 April 1990). World No-Tobacco Day. Atlanta. In 1988, Resolution WHA42.19 was passed by the World Health Assembly, calling for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day, every year on 31 May. Since then, the WHO has supported World No Tobacco Day every year, linking each year to a different tobacco-related theme. In 1998, the WHO established the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI), an attempt to focus international resources and attention on the global health issue of tobacco. The initiative provides assistance for creating global public health policy, encourages mobilization between societies, and supports the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).World Health Organization. Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI). Geneva. Accessed 5 January 2015. The WHO FCTC is a global public health treaty adopted in 2003 by countries around the globe as an agreement to implement policies that work towards tobacco cessation. In 2008, on the eve of the World No Tobacco Day, the WHO called for a worldwide ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. The theme of that year's day was "Tobacco-free youth"; therefore, this initiative was especially meant to target advertising efforts aimed at youth. According to the WHO, the tobacco industry must replace older quitting or dying smokers with younger consumers. Because of this, marketing strategies are commonly observed in places that will attract youth such as movies, the Internet, billboards, and magazines. Studies have shown that the more youth are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to smoke.Chan, Margaret. 2008. ″WHO calls for banning all tobacco advertising, promotion.″ Nation's Health. 38(6):21. In 2015, WNTD highlighted the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocated for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption, including ending the illicit trade of tobacco products.World Health Organization. World No Tobacco Day 2015: Stop illicit trade of tobacco products. Geneva. Accessed 5 January 2015. In 2017, the focus was "A threat to development". The campaign aims to demonstrate the threats that the tobacco industry poses to sustainable development, including the health and economic well-being of citizens in all countries.World Health Organization. World No Tobacco Day 2017: Tobacco – a threat to development. Geneva. Accessed 26 May 2017. Following years: see the next section.
Themes Each year, the WHO selects a theme for the day in order to create a more unified global message for WNTD. This theme then becomes the central component of the WHO's tobacco-related agenda for the following year.World Health Organization. World No Tobacco Day 2010. Geneva. The WHO oversees the creation and distribution of publicity materials related to the theme, including brochures, fliers, posters, websites, and press releases.World Health Organization. World No Tobacco Day 2009: Campaign Materials. Geneva. Videos were created as a part of the 2008 WNTD awareness campaign for the theme "Tobacco-free youth" and published on YouTube, and podcasts were first used in 2009.World Health Organization. Tobacco multimedia centre. Geneva. Accessed 5 January 2015.
In many of its WNTD themes and related publicity-materials, the WHO emphasizes the idea of "truth". Theme titles such as "Tobacco kills, don't be duped" (2000) and "Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise" (2006) indicate a WHO belief that individuals may be misled or confused about the true nature of tobacco; the rationale for the 2000 and 2008 WNTD themes identify the marketing strategies and "illusions" created by the tobacco industry as a primary source of this confusion. The WHO's WNTD materials present an alternate understanding of the "facts" as seen from a global public health perspective. WNTD publicity materials provide an "official" interpretation of the most up-to-date tobacco-related research and statistics and provide a common ground from which to formulate anti-tobacco arguments around the world.
Current and past themes include the following:
2016: "Get ready for plain packaging".World No Tobacco Day 2016 2017: "Tobacco: a threat to development" 2018: "Tobacco breaks hearts: choose health, not tobacco"2018 Tobacco Breaks Hearts brochure 2019: "Tobacco and lung health".World No Tobacco Day 2019 2020: "Tobacco and related industry tactics to attract younger generations". 2021: "Commit to quit".World No Tobacco Day 2021According to the WHO, the goal of the World No Tobacco Day 2021 campaign is to encourage and support tobacco users to quit. Communicating with more people to learn and discuss what role health insurance plays in tobacco control and how health professionals can be more employed.The main goal of this year's World No Tobacco Day, May 31, is to protect young people from the marketing of big tobacco companies and to help them avoid tobacco and nicotine use. Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) sponsors this awareness day to highlight the health risks of tobacco use and to encourage governments to implement policies that help reduce smoking and other tobacco products. 2022: "Tobacco: threat to our environment" 2023: "Grow food, not tobacco" 2024: "Protecting children from tobacco industry interference". 2025: "Unmasking the appeal: exposing industry tactics on tobacco and nicotine products". 2026: "Unmasking the appeal: countering nicotine and tobacco addiction".World No Tobacco Day 2026
Event coordination The WHO serves as a central hub for fostering communication and coordinating WNTD events around the world. The WHO website provides a place for groups to share news of their activities, and the organization publishes this information online by country.World Health Organization. Register your World No Tobacco Day 2010 event. Geneva.
Awards Since 1988, the WHO has presented one or more awards to organizations or individuals who have made exceptional contributions to reducing tobacco consumption. World No Tobacco Day Awards are given to individuals from six different world regions (Africa, Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific), and Director-General Special Awards and Recognition Certificates are given to individuals from any region.World Health Organization. World No Tobacco Day 2009 Awards – The winners. Geneva.
Global observance
Groups around the world – from local clubs to city councils to national governments – are encouraged by the WHO to organize events each year to help communities celebrate World No Tobacco Day in their own way at the local level. Past events have included letter writing campaigns to government officials and local newspapers, marches, public debates, local and national publicity campaigns, anti-tobacco activist meetings, educational programming, and public art.For examples, search "celebrations around the world" within each theme's page of the World Health Organization's website. Try World Health Organization, World No Tobacco Day activities – 31 May 2008 to get started.
In addition, many governments use WNTD as the start date for implementing new smoking bans and tobacco control efforts. For example, on 31 May 2008, a section of the Smoke Free Ontario Act came into effect banning tobacco "power walls" and displays at stores in this Canadian province, and all hospitals and government offices in Australia became smoke-free on 31 May 2010.CBC News. 2008. Cigarette display ban begins in Quebec, Ontario. Ottawa.Health Life. Adelaide, 25 September 2009. Accessed 5 January 2015.
The day has also been used as a springboard for discussing the current and future state of a country as it relates to tobacco—for example in India which, with 275 million tobacco users, has one of the highest levels of tobacco consumption in the world.Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids. Global Epidemic: India. Washington. Accessed 5 January 2015. The Government of India has also launched a Smoking Cessation Helpline to help curb the widespread addiction in the country.
Resistance For some, WNTD is seen as a challenge to individual freedom of choice or even a culturally acceptable form of discrimination. From ignoring WNTD, to participating in protests or acts of defiance, to bookending the day with extra rounds of pro-tobacco advertisements and events, smokers, tobacco growers, and the tobacco industry have found ways to make their opinions heard.
Smoker response There has been no sustained or widespread effort to organize counter-WNTD events on the part of smokers. However, some small groups, particularly in the United States, have created local pro-smoking events. For example, the Oregon Commentator, an independent conservative journal of opinion published at the University of Oregon, hosted a "Great American Smoke-in" on campus as a counter to the locally more widespread Great American Smokeout: "In response to the ever-increasing vilification of smokers on campus, the Oregon Commentator presents the Great American Smoke-in as an opportunity for students to join together and enjoy the pleasures of fine tobacco products".The Oregon Commentator. OC to host Great American Smoke-in. 26 November 2007. Similarly, "Americans for Freedom of Choice", a group in Honolulu, Hawaii, organized "World Defiance Day" in response to WNTD and Hawaii's statewide ban on smoking in restaurants.Zimmerman, Malia. Defiance—one puff at a time. Hawaii Reporter. 6 July 2007.
Industry response