Each year the World Health Organisation (WHO) hosts World No Tobacco Day to encourage smokers to go a day without smoking which may be the first step toward quitting tobacco.
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Championing the cause locally was Kempsey Neighborhood Centre that held a World No Tobacco Day community event. A number of stalls were setup offering support for a range of community services including an Aboriginal smoking reduction program.
ReadyMob Tobacco Worker Natalie Riley said the organisation wants to make smoking history in the Indigenous community.
“Days like World No Tobacco Day promote the importance of becoming smoke-free, and remaining smoke-free.
“ReadyMob offer support to people in the community on their quit journey, through fitness programs such as Get Fit and Quit, and counselling to help people give-up smoking for good.”
WHO also uses the day to launch a new campaign aimed at reducing the number of people in the world who smoke tobacco.
This year’s campaign is Get Ready For Plain Packaging, an initiative Australian’s are already familiar with thanks to the former health minister Nicola Roxon who’s efforts saw plain packaging come into effect in 2012.
WHO claims that “tobacco packaging makes products more attractive, advertises and promotes tobacco consumption, distracts from health warnings and deceives people into thinking that some products are less harmful than others.”
Australia leads the plain packaging charge globally guided by the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 which was legislated to reduce the appeal of tobacco products, increase the effectiveness of health warnings and reduce the likelihood of consumers being mislead about the harmful effects of smoking or using tobacco products.