The COVID-19 pandemic motivates millions of tobacco users to quit, but they need support
“Quitters are the real winners in the case of tobacco”, says the World Health Organization as part of a campaign to help smokers that have decided to quit during the COVID-19 pandemic, but lack the support to do so. A new chatbot and even an AI assistant are ready to aid them in their...
WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2021: ATCA, CTCA, FCA AFRO AND ATIM JOINT REGIONAL PRESS RELEASE
We must provide tobacco users the help they need to quit. The 2021 edition of World No Tobacco Day makes a special request to smokers; “Commit to Quit”. This message is particularly timely, especially at a time when the world continues to struggle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that...
India: A Pandemic Driven Approach to Tobacco Control
As India fights the pandemic with its back to the wall, medical experts have flagged the need to strengthen the tobacco control movement countrywide. Addressing experts from across the country on Sunday at an event organised by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, health expert Dr Rana J Singh...
Tanzania: About 500 containers of ‘shisha’ still held at Dar port
Dar es Salaam. About 500 containers of expired ‘shisha’ products have been detained at the port of Dar es Salaam, the government revealed. The minister of State in the Vice President’s Office Union Affairs and Environment, Selemani Jafo said yesterday during his visit that the 40ft containers (2TEUs) have been imported since 2019. Shisha usually contains...
USA: Advocates welcome federal step to ban menthol cigarettes
Smoke-free advocates are applauding a recently proposed federal ban on menthol cigarettes, while calling on area cities to pass their own bans sooner. The Food and Drug Administration announced last week it would take steps to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes over the next year. It was a long-awaited response to a petition submitted by public health...
Pakistan’s fight against tobacco is getting harder
Pakistan made a commitment in 2005, when it signed the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), to reduce tobacco consumption and ensure the right of people to the highest standards of health. At the moment, 19.1% of people, over the age of 15 years, in the country use tobacco in any form...
