Tobacco and cardiovascular disease

Date: 31 May 2018

World No Tobacco Day 2018 will focus on the impact tobacco has on the cardiovascular health of people worldwide.

Tobacco use is an important risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.

Despite the devastating harms of tobacco to heart health, and the availability of solutions to reduce tobacco-related death and disease, knowledge among large sections of the public that tobacco is one of the leading causes of CVD is low.

The campaign will increase awareness on the:

• link between tobacco and heart and other cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including stroke, which combined are the world's leading causes of death;
• 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, on 31 May, PAHO joins WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco use, and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.

Read more: World No Tobacco Day 2017

This year outstanding contributions to tobacco control as a crucial measure to Rolling back noncommunicable diseases to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) will be highlighted.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for nominations for the World No Tobacco Day Awards of individuals or organizations in the Region of the Americas for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control.  The closing date for submissions is Thursday, 30 March 2017.

Read more: Call for nominations of the World No Tobacco Day Awards 2017 open until March 30

Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.

For World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2016, WHO and the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are calling countries to get ready for plain (standardized) packaging of tobacco products.

Plain packaging is an important demand reduction measure that reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products, restricts use of tobacco packaging as a form of tobacco advertising and promotion, limits misleading packaging and labelling, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings.

Read more: World No Tobacco Day 2016: Get ready for plain packaging

One in every 10 cigarettes, and many other tobacco products, consumed worldwide are illegal, making the illicit trade of tobacco products a major global concern from many perspectives, including health, legal, economic, governance and corruption. The tobacco industry and criminal groups are among those who profit from the illegal tobacco trade, leaving the public to pay the health and security costs.

Read more: World No Tobacco Day 2015: Stop illicit trade of tobacco products

Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600 000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. For World No Tobacco Day 2014, we are calling on countries to raise taxes on tobacco.

Read more: World No Tobacco Day 2014: Raise taxes on tobacco

As part of the World No Tobacco Day 2013 activities, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) launched a campaign against advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of tobacco that features the Uruguayan soccer player Diego Forlán.

Read more: Tobacco Free Americas

Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners everywhere mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide.

The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2013 is: ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

A comprehensive ban of all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship is required under the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) for all Parties to this treaty within five years of the entry into force of the Convention for that Party. Evidence shows that comprehensive advertising bans lead to reductions in the numbers of people starting and continuing smoking. Statistics show that banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce tobacco demand and thus a tobacco control "best buy".

Most countries lack comprehensive bans

Despite the effectiveness of comprehensive bans, only 6% of the world's population was fully protected from exposure to the tobacco industry advertising, promotion and sponsorship tactics in 2010 (WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2011).
To help reduce tobacco use, comprehensive advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans work to counteract:

• the deceptive and misleading nature of tobacco marketing campaigns;
• the unavoidable exposure of youth to tobacco marketing;
• the failure of the tobacco industry to effectively self-regulate; and
• the ineffectiveness of partial bans.

Meanwhile, as more and more countries move to fully meet their obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), tobacco industry attempts to undermine the treaty become ever more aggressive, including those to weaken public health efforts to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. For example, where jurisdictions have banned advertising of tobacco products through point-of-sale displays — known as tobacco "powerwalls" — or banned the advertising and promotional features of tobacco packaging through standardized packaging, the tobacco industry has sued governments in national courts and through international trade mechanisms. On the other hand the tobacco industry uses sponsorship and especially corporate social responsibility tactics to trick public opinion into believing in their respectability and good intentions while they manoeuver to hijack the political and legislative process.

Goals

The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600 000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. Unless we act, the epidemic will kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030. More than 80% of these preventable deaths will be among people living in low- and middle-income countries.

The ultimate goal of World No Tobacco Day is to contribute to protect present and future generations not only from these devastating health consequences, but also against the social, environmental and economic scourges of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.
Specific objectives of the 2013 campaign are to:

• spur countries to implement WHO FCTC Article 13 and its Guidelines to comprehensively ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship such that fewer people start and continue to use tobacco; and
• drive local, national and international efforts to counteract tobacco industry efforts to undermine tobacco control, specifically industry efforts to stall or stop comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

In the media:

• PAHO/WHO urges total bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in the Americas
  
• PAHO/WHO honors individuals and institutions for tobacco control contributions

Video: Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship

Videos in: French | Spanish

Communication Material

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All the tobacco industry's tactics and interference with public policy-making are aimed at increasing tobacco consumption and are detrimental to public health. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and its Parties acknowledge that the tobacco industry represents a serious threat to the achievement of the Convention's goals and objectives. Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC calls on Parties to protect public health policies from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. All governmental sectors - including direct administration, with the executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as indirect and autonomous administration - are bound to comply with Article 5.3.

Through the Final Political Declaration of the UN High-level Meeting on Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases the global leaders recognized in 2011 the fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and public health policy interests, similar to the Guidelines for the implementation of WHO FCTC Article 5.3 adopted by the WHO FCTC Conference of Parties in 2009. This technical resource presents information to support the implementation of the Article 5.3 Guidelines by sharing practical action steps and best practices and examples applicable to the implementation of Article 5.3. This technical resource should be used in association with the text of the WHO Framework Convention and with its Article 5.3 Guidelines.

Related links

• Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Guidelines for implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• United Nations high-level meeting on noncommunicable disease prevention and control
• Reports published by WHO Tobacco Free Initiative analyze different aspects of the industry's strategies.