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Vice President Alik Declares May 31, 2009 World No Tobacco Day

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): June 2, 2009 - On May 28, 2009, Vice President Alik L. Alik, on behalf of President Mori, signed a proclamation to proclaim Sunday, May 31, 2009 as "World No Tobacco Day".

The proclamation highlighted that tobacco use is the single-most preventable cause of death and disease in our society. Since there is approximately 1.8 billion young people (age 10-24) that live in our world today and more than 85% are found in developing countries, it is very important to educate our youth on the health risk that tobacco presents. The proclamation highlighted that May 31 of each year has been established by the World Health Organization as "World No Tobacco Day", and it is intended to encourage government agencies, communities, groups and individuals to become aware of the devastating costs of tobacco consumption and to take appropriate action.

This year's theme, "Tobacco Health Warning," is an opportunity to mobilize various sectors of society in communities large and small to help understand that tobacco health warnings appear on packs of cigarettes and are among the strongest defenses against the global epidemic of tobacco. These health warnings contain both pictures and words because they are most effective at convincing people to quit using tobacco. Such pictorial warnings appear in more than a dozen countries.

In response to this threat to the people, this year's World No Tobacco Day campaign focuses on the following: health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use should be placed on packs of tobacco and their outside packaging and it is recommended that warnings contain pictures.

The proclamation also stated that the World Health Organization is encouraging the promotion of "World No Tobacco Day" throughout the world with strategies for year-long observances, stressing the importance of tobacco control, particularly education and policy efforts to prevent use and addiction.

In the Proclamation, Vice President Alik urged all FSM citizens to take part in the observance of the Proclamation and encouraged participation in the worldwide effort of attaining good health for all.