Every year on May 31, the world recognizes the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). It is a program of the World Health Organization (WHO), which was created in 1987 by the member states of WHO. As a program, WNTD aims to encourage smokers around the world to abstain from all forms of tobacco consumption during the whole 24-hour period.
Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death globally. It is currently responsible for killing one out of 10 adults (10%) worldwide. By partnering with other global organizations, the WHO draws the attention of the people around the world due to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use. WNTD will highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use, which currently leads to an annual estimated deaths of 5.4 million worldwide. There will be advocacies on creating effective policies in reducing tobacco consumptions.
For the past twenty years, WNTD has been received both with enthusiasm and resistance around the world from governments, public health organizations, smokers, growers, and the tobacco industry.
Meanwhile in Australia, the goal is not just to abstain from smoking for one day but ultimately to eliminate smoking in every workplace to promote good health and safety of the workers. Smoking is prohibited in most indoor workplaces. Second-hand tobacco smoking was proven to be hazardous to health. Hence, Safe Work Australia aims to ensure workers are not exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke in every workplace. To further implement this prohibition, the work health and safety legislation is created for the purpose of creating a safe and healthy environment for workers that will be eliminating or minimizing the risks to health and safety.
Safe Work Australia is currently updating the Guidance Note on the Elimination of Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the Workplace, which provides advice on eliminating second-hand tobacco smoke in the workplace. Another is the creation of Quit Smoking programs advice; and services is an important way of providing a safe and healthy workplace and encouraging health and well-being. Quitnow, a government website of Australia, offers information on quit smoking programs and resources.
