World No Tobacco Day 2021 tomorrow

Hyderabad: The World No Tobacco Day is observed every year on May 31 to make tobacco users aware of the opportunity to lead a healthier life. The aim of this day is to spread awareness about the dangers of using tobacco, and how health problems could be tackled by doctors when one quits smoking.

Tobacco causes 8 million deaths every year. When evidence was released this year that smokers were more likely to develop severe complications with Covid-19 compared to non-smokers, it triggered millions of smokers to want to quit tobacco. Quitting can be challenging, especially with the added social and economic stress that have come as a result of the pandemic. But there are a lot of reasons to quit.

The benefits of quitting tobacco are almost immediate. After just 20 minutes of quitting smoking, your heart rate drops. Within 12 hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. Within 2-12 weeks, your circulation improves and lung function increases. Within 1-9 months, coughing and shortness of breath decreases. Within 5-15 years, your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker. Within 10 years, your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smoker. Within 15 years, your risk of heart disease is that of a non-smoker.

To commemorate the WNTD 2021 , Council for Planetary Health and Human Development has organised a webinar with public health experts. Action plan for the next year has been discussed keeping in view of the theme "Commit to quit". Public health experts took the oath circulated by Ministry of Health and Public Welfare to all State health departments.