May 31st every year is celebrated as the World No Tobacco Day to spread awareness among people all over the world about the hazardous health effects of tobacco consumption. The underlying motto of the day is to make people quit tobacco and help others to do the same. The day starts with challenging people to control and abstain themselves from consuming tobacco for the next 24 hours. As an initiative UNO thought that this would make people realise that a 24 hour gap can turn into a lifetime resistance against tobacco. As we know that bad habits take time to get over with and no one can quit such addictions in just one day but there’s absolutely no harm in trying and that’s what the World No Tobacco Day is all about.
In India, the Delhi Medical Council in collaboration with Heart Care Foundation of India and IMA has advocated a complete ban on the sale of all tobacco products like cigarettes, hookah, gutka and e-cigarettes for a time period of 24 hours. They have also written a letter in the same regards to the Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain and delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
On the occasion, President of DMC, Dr Arun Gupta stated, “Several days of relevance including Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd October are observed as dry days in India with a complete ban on the sale of liquor for 24 hours. Then why not observe May 31 as a dry tobacco day. The increasing consumption of tobacco products by a younger population in Delhi and subsequent rise in the cases of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory ailments are a point of concern for the medical fraternity.
A latest survey told that the average age of initiation of tobacco consumption in India is 19 years and 3 months which is unfortunately so young to start off with a dangerous habit like this. This day called as World No Tobacco Day also takes the opportunity to raise awareness among the people regarding this concerning issue. The estimated number of tobacco users in India is 27.5 crore, which is huge and shall be minimised with more such initiatives.
