World No Tobacco Day: Bidding farewell to cigarettes once and for all

Thursday marks this year's World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) – the 31st World No Tobacco Day since 1988 – with the selected theme “Tobacco and Heart Disease.” The World Health Organization (WHO) signaled the urgent need to focus on the impact tobacco has on the cardiovascular health of people worldwide.

A killer of human health

Tobacco use is a huge and preventable risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

Despite the devastating harms of tobacco to heart disease and the availability of solutions to reduce tobacco-related deaths and disease, the knowledge that tobacco is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remains very low. 

CVD kills more people than any other cause of death worldwide, and tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure contribute to approximately 12 percent of all heart disease deaths.

The global tobacco epidemic kills over seven million people each year, of which close to 900,000 are non-smokers dying from taking second-hand smoke. Nearly 80 percent of the more than 1.1 billion smokers across the world live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is the heaviest.

Exposure to second-hand smoke can increase the risk of coronary heart disease by an increase of 25-30 percent, resulting in an increasing risk of stroke by 20-30 percent; short exposure to second-hand smoke can also lead to an acute heart attack.

Many substances in tobacco can affect the efficacy of certain drugs and reduce the effect of platelet and other drugs on the treatment of coronary heart disease and stroke.

It's not too late to stop smoking

Not smoking, and therefore removing the threat of second-hand smoke, are the most effective way to prevent cardiovascular diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. The latest research suggests that the sooner you quit smoking, the better.

Quitting smoking before the age of 35 can avoid heart disease caused by 90 percent. Former smokers can expect to live as long and as healthy as nonsmokers if they manage to quit for at least 15 years before they turn 50.

Smokers in China

China continues to be one of the countries with the highest male smoking rate in the world since 1984.

According to the latest reports, an estimated 290 million individuals suffer from CVD in China, of whom, 270 million people have hypertension, at least seven million have had a stroke, 2.5 million have had a myocardial infarction, 4.5 million have had a heart failure, five million have had a pulmonary heart disease, 2.5 million have had a rheumatic heart disease, and two million have had a congenital heart disease.

One in five Chinese adults is afflicted by CVD. Smokers are 2.2 times more likely to suffer from CVD than nonsmokers. Males who smoke only one cigarette a day increases their risk of coronary heart disease by 74 percent, while that with women increases by 119 percent.

The greater the amount of smoking and the longer the smoking period are, the higher the risk of coronary heart disease and death. 

National control – institution & law 

Established in February 1990, Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (CATC) is composed of the members from various professions and services who are willing to work on tobacco control activities.

It is a national academic mass organization on the non-profit basis, supervised and administrated by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Civil Affairs in carrying out its professional activities.

The association's objective is to unite extensively with local tobacco control organizations and volunteers from all sectors to promote national tobacco control activities in China. 

Currently 18 cities in the country have adopted local legislation on tobacco control – including Beijing's Smoke-free Law which came into force on June 1, 2015.

The law, by far the toughest of its kind in China, is compliant with WHO FCTC requirements and has been described as the “strongest smoking ban in history.”

Making public places smoke-free requires laws, multi-sectoral support for implementation and community awareness and compliance. Only with such joint efforts can we create smoke-free environments and enjoy a healthy life.