Every year, World Health Organisation and partners mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31 to highlight the health and other risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. This year’s theme focuses on the impact of tobacco on cardiovascular health. Awareness on tobacco being a leading factor in heart ailments is low and hence, this year the WHO campaign seeks to promote awareness on the link between tobacco and heart and other cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

Theme

This year the theme is ‘Tobacco breaks hearts’. Tobacco is a key risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular health. WHO also encourages feasible actions and measures that key audiences, including governments and the public, can take to reduce the risks posed by tobacco to heart health. These actions include WHO-supported Global Hearts and RESOLVE Initiatives, which aim to reduce cardiovascular disease deaths and improve care.

How Tobacco Endangers the Heart Health

Roughly one out of five deaths from heart disease is directly related to smoking. People who smoke are two to four times more likely to get heart disease. The nicotine in smoke reduces how much oxygen your heart gets, raises your blood pressure and speeds up your heart rate. Tobacco also harms the insides of blood vessels, including in your heart, creating blood clots which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. Despite the known harms of tobacco to heart health and the availability of solutions to reduce related death and disease, knowledge among large sections of the public that tobacco is one of the leading causes of CVD is low.

Aim of World No Tobacco Day 2018 Campaign

The theme and the campaign aim to increase awareness within the broader public of the impact tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke have on cardiovascular health. Second-hand smoke exposure contributes to approximately 12% of all heart disease deaths. The goal is to provide opportunities for the public, governments and others to make commitments to promote heart health by protecting people from use of tobacco products.

According to WHO, the global tobacco epidemic kills more than seven million people each year of which close to 900,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. Nearly 80% of more than one billion smokers worldwide live in low and middle-income countries where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 10:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).