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Campaign messages
Tobacco-related disease and death is preventable
Fully implement WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and all its policies, which will reduce tobacco use and consequently cardiovascular disease levels in the Region.
Learn more about WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Fully implement the technical packages that constitute WHO’s Global Hearts Initiative (MPOWER, SHAKE & HEARTS), which can save many millions of lives by ramping up proven measures to prevent cardiovascular disease in communities and countries, including taxing tobacco, reducing salt in foods, detecting and treating people at high risk and strengthening primary health care services.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The 2030 agenda for sustainable development calls for increased effort to implement the WHO FCTC. Doing so will play a major part in meeting the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases by 30% by 2030.
The WHO FCTC is the most powerful tool available to counter tobacco’s negative impacts on development. It contains both tobacco demand and supply reduction measures. In particular, Article 6 of the WHO FCTC encourages price and tax measures to reduce demand for tobacco. These include tax increases resulting in an increase in the sales price of tobacco products, and prohibiting or restricting sales of tax- and duty-free tobacco products.
In line with the WHO FCTC, WHO introduced the MPOWER measures in 2008, which are a set of 6 cost-effective and high impact measures that help countries reduce demand for tobacco.
These measures include:
Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies
Protecting people from tobacco smoke
Offering help to quit tobacco use
Warning about the dangers of tobacco
Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
Raising taxes on tobacco.
Increasing tobacco tax and prices has proven to be one of the most effective, yet least utilized tobacco control measures that countries can use to address various development issues. Increased tobacco taxation revenues will strengthen domestic resource mobilization, creating the fiscal space needed for countries to meet development priorities under the 2030 agenda.
It is essential that tobacco control measures reach those who are most affected. By increasing prices, taxation protects the poor from exposure to a product that kills and causes disease. Taxation, in fact, is the most effective means to motivate current tobacco users to quit, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco taxes also reduce exposure to secondhand smoke among non-smokers, including children and women.
Measures exist to also control tobacco supply. The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products to the WHO FCTC is the key policy tool to reduce tobacco use and its health and economic consequences. Other measures, such as supporting viable alternatives to tobacco production, and restricting access of children and youth to tobacco products, are effective, especially as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce tobacco use.
How you can get involved
Use and adapt our campaign materials
We have developed a number of campaign materials. There are versions of these materials in Arabic, English and French.
The material can be downloaded here
Disseminate the materials
Think about where campaign materials can be made available to reach people for whom they are intended. A few ideas are: health care centres, clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities, supermarkets, leisure and social clubs, associations, places of work, places of worship, and public transport.
Organize an activity
Organizing an activity or event is a great way to raise awareness about tobacco and stimulate action, both among individuals, and on a wider scale. If you do decide to organize an event, keep in mind the following:
What are you trying to achieve?
Who are you targeting?
What would make your target audiences want to participate?
When and where will your activity be held?
Should you join up with other organizations?
Who will you invite? Are there any well-known figures who could help you achieve your goals?
Do you have the resources to achieve your goals? If not, how can you mobilize them?
How will you promote your event?
Can the media help you achieve your goals? If so, which media should you target?
How will you share information about your activities after the event?
How will you measure success?
Examples of activities that you might want to consider are: discussion forums, sporting events, workshops for journalists, art competitions, coffee mornings, concerts, sponsored activities ̶ anything that contributes to a better understanding of tobacco control and how it can drive sustainable development.
Think about involving your organization’s champions, especially if they are influential among those you are trying to reach.
While this is a one-year campaign, and as such, activities can be organized throughout the year, we encourage you to consider starting your activities on World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2018. Media attention is high on this day, which can generate greater awareness.
Share information and materials on social media
Throughout the campaign, we will be communicating via our social media channels Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WHOEMRO?sk=wall, Twitter https://twitter.com/whoemro , and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT7a_fVlSrjOs9jyvtH-uhA.
The primary hashtag that we are using for the campaign is #NoTobacco.
We encourage you to share our posts with your own networks, share your own materials and join discussions on issues related to the campaign.
Please note that WHO-branded materials should be used as is.
For questions on use of the materials, please send an email to Ms Nisreen Abdel Latif, WHO Communications,
