Every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) presents awards to key people and/or organizations that have made valuable contributions to tobacco control and have helped make World No Tobacco Day and its theme a great success. These awards are an expression of WHO's appreciation of the great time and effort that these contributors have invested in the campaigns, as well as in fighting tobacco.
This year, four World No Tobacco Day awards were presented to:
Dr Hessein Hamouda, Director for the Department of Health and Environment, Technical Secretariat Officer, Council of Arab Health Ministers, League of Arab States, Egypt
Mr Amr Khaled, Islamic Scholar, Egypt
Dr Mohammad Esmaeil Akbari, Undersecretary for Health, Islamic Republic of Iran
Dr Tawfik Khoja, Executive Director for the Health Ministers Council for Gulf Cooperation Council States, Saudi Arabia
These individuals have been actively working in tobacco control for years. They have participated in numerous tobacco control-related activities to raise the awareness of the general public and decision-makers about tobacco and its harmful effects, as well as about the importance of adopting and implementing tobacco control laws.
