The opening ceremony for the National No Tobacco Week was held at the Ministry of Health in Tehran on Monday and attended by senior health officials.
World No Tobacco Day is observed globally on May 31, and is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe, reports IRNA. This year, the World Health Organization and the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are calling on countries to get ready for plain (standardized) packaging of tobacco products without the use of logos, colors, brand images or promotional information on packaging. The Islamic Republic’s theme for the day is “Turn Your Hookahs into Vases”, to encourage people to plant samplings in their hookahs, which are mostly glass-based water basins. In Iran, 65,000 people die annually due to smoking and related diseases.
