Funding Agency: No external funding
Every year, on May 31, the world celebrates World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocates for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. The theme of this year’s campaign is “Tobacco – a threat to development.” This year, WHO is highlighting how tobacco threatens the development of nations worldwide and is calling on governments to implement strong tobacco control measures. Tobacco control can break the cycle of poverty, contribute to ending hunger, promote sustainable agriculture and economic growth, and combat climate change.
World No Tobacco Day 2017 was celebrated by the Zvart Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR) of the Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian School of Public Health (SPH) at American University of Armenia (AUA) through several events. Dr. Arusyak Harutyunyan, CHSR Senior Researcher, was invited to the “Media Center” press-club to reflect on the World No Tobacco Day theme “Tobacco – a threat to development.” To support the primary healthcare professionals in helping their patients to quit the CHSR’s tobacco control team developed patient education materials that included information on the benefits of quitting and tips for successful smoking cessation. The CHSR researchers visited primary healthcare physicians that participated in tobacco dependence treatment trainings in 2016 and provided them with the educational materials to be shared with their smoking patients. The CHSR tobacco control team expressed their willingness to provide continuous support to physicians in their tobacco control efforts.