The World No Tobacco Day will be observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe on Thursday, highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.
The theme of this year's day is 'Tobacco Attacks Heart: Stay away, Save Lives'.
The theme demonstrates link between tobacco and heart and other cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including stroke, which combined are the world's leading causes of death and feasible actions and measures that key audiences, including governments and the public, can take to reduce the risks to heart health posed by tobacco.
Every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners mark the World No Tobacco Day on May 31, reports UNB.
The World No Tobacco Day 2018 coincides with a range of global initiatives and opportunities aimed at addressing the tobacco epidemic and its impact on public health, particularly on causing the death and suffering of millions of people globally. These actions include the WHO-supported Global Hearts and RESOLVE initiatives, which aim to reduce cardiovascular disease deaths and improve care, and the third United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs being held in 2018.
According to WHO, the global tobacco epidemic kills over 7 million people each year, of which close to 900 000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke.
Nearly 80 percent of the more than 1 billion smokers worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.
Different anti-tobacco organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes on the occasion.
Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages highlighting the significance of the day.