Tobacco Free Initiative

World No Tobacco day 2012

Commemoration of World No Tobacco Day 2012

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is commemorated every year on May 31. The theme for this years WNTD is Tobacco Industry Interference. The campaign focuses on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry's brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). The focus of WNTD 2012 is to educate policy-makers and the general public about the tobacco industry's harmful tactics.

Taking this theme forward, a number of activities were organized on 31 May 2012 at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India to commemorate WNTD.

To kick-start the programme, an awareness run was flagged off by Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Honble Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India and Mr P K Pradhan, Secretary, MoHFW.

In addition, the Operational Guidelines for National Tobacco Control Programme were released by Mr Keshav Desiraju, Special Secretary, MoHFW and Ms Shakuntla D. Gamlin, Joint Secretary, MoHFW. WHO Country Office for India has provided support to MoHFW for development of these operational guidelines. The guidelines provide a framework for the state and district level functionaries to effectively implement the National Tobacco Control Programme.

The World No Tobacco Day 2012 Awards were also presented on this occasion. Every year, WHO recognises individuals or organizations in each of the six WHO Regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control. In addition, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia also recognises outstanding contributions of individuals/organizations by honouring them with the Regional Directors Appreciation Award for World No Tobacco Day. The awards were presented by Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India.

The Regional Directors Appreciation Award for WNTD 2012 was presented to Dr Rajiv Bindal, Honble Health Minister, Himachal Pradesh, who received the award on behalf of Department of Health, Government of Himachal Pradesh. The award for Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), New Delhi was received by Ms Bhavna Mukhopadhyay, Executive Director, VHAI. Dr Mangesh Pednekar, Director Research and Development, Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Mumbai and Dr Ahmad Abdul Hai, Managing Director and Chief Consultant, Hai Medicare and Research Institute, Patna are the other awardees in this category.

The WNTD Award for 2012 was presented to Dr Monika Arora, Head, Health Promotion and Tobacco Control, Public Health Foundation of India. The award for Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), Mumbai was received by Ms Kiran Hukku, Director, CPAA, Delhi.

WHO Country Office for India supported CPAA, Mumbai in commemoration of WNTD 2012. In this context, a press conference and a musical concert was organized by CPAA in Mumbai. On 27 May 2012, a musical event called Celebration of Life was organized in which Bollywood singers and celebrities like Shankar Mahadevan, Zareen Khan, Tara Sharma, Shweta Pandit and others participated. The singers and celebrities from the entertainment industry gave a call for action to youth and other stakeholders urging them to desist from tobacco use and be aware of tobacco industry tactics.

More information is available at:

http://who.int/tobacco/wntd/2012/announcement/en/index.html

http://www.searo.who.int/en/Section2666.htm

http://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/industry/interference/en/index.html http://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/industry/technical_resource_article_5_3/en/index.html

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