31st May is observed as “World No Tobacco Day”. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ”Over 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion tobacco users worldwide lack access to the tools they need to quit successfully. This gap in access to cessation services is only further exacerbated in the last year as the health workforce has been mobilized to handle the coronavirus pandemic”. The first international public health treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), entered into force and became an international binding law in 2005. A study published in Lancet says, “Ending the global tobacco epidemic is a defining challenge in global health. Timely and comprehensive estimates of the prevalence of smoking tobacco use and attributable disease burden are needed to guide tobacco control efforts nationally and globally.”
The 2021 theme and campaign of World No Tobacco Day is: Commit to Quit. So on this day, all students of Uttaranchal Institute of Technology pledged not to consume any tobacco products throughout their life. Students also pledged to create awareness in their surroundings regarding the side effects of tobacco consumption on the individual life as well as the suffering of their family.
