WHO to award Jharkhand for the World No Tobacco Day Award-2022

The World Health Organization has chosen Jharkhand for the World No Tobacco Day Award-2022, an official said on Sunday, in recognition of the state’s efforts to reduce tobacco consumption.

The prize will be presented to the state tobacco control cell of the health department on World No Tobacco Day in New Delhi on May 31, according to Jharkhand’s nodal officer of the National Tobacco Control Program, Lalit Ranjan Pathak.

“It’s a wonderful victory for Jharkhand,” Pathak said, “and it’s only possible because of the political and administrative support that the tobacco control unit has had in administering the program.”

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey-1 report, the NTCP was begun in Jharkhand in 2012, when the state’s tobacco prevalence rate was 51.1 percent, with 48 percent of smokers.

According to the GATS-2 report, tobacco users in the state decreased to 38.9%, with 35.4 percent of those using smokeless tobacco.

“Between 2018 and 2022, Jharkhand implemented a series of initiatives to bring it further lower,” Pathak said.