Rwanda marks World No Tobacco Day by increasing awareness among youth

Rwanda has marked World No Tobacco Day by increasing awareness using different media platforms. Due to the coronavirus epidemic, Rwanda did not organize a national event to mark the day.

Every year on May 31, the world observes World No Tobacco Day. It is meant to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe.

The day is further intended to draw global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and its negative health effects. Globally, tobacco use accounts for eight million deaths annually, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Kigali City and the Western Province have the highest proportion of daily smokers at 73.2 percent and 75.8 percent respectively.

According to Evariste Ntaganda, the cardiovascular diseases officer at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, the government has done a lot to take some actions such as strengthening legislation promoting smoke-free environments, health warnings on cigarette packages, and increasing taxes on tobacco products.

"A lot of effort was directed at the very high burden in young people. When preventing the use of tobacco in such a generation, it means that we are putting more effort into controlling its use in future generations, which is our target," he says.

The strategy, he explains, is also to target young people in different fora such as in schools, youth organizations, and media, as well as open discussions, in order to present all this information and at the same time answer participants' concerns.