Jharkhand to Receive WHO Award for Tobacco Control

World Health Organization (WHO) has chosen Jharkhand for the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Award-2022 in recognition of its efforts to reduce tobacco consumption, an official said on Sunday. Stata Tobacco Control Cell of the Health Department will receive the award on World No Tobacco Day in New Delhi on May 31, according to Jharkhand's National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) nodal officer Lalit Ranjan Pathak.

"It's a tremendous achievement for Jharkhand, which would not have been possible without the political and administrative support that the tobacco control cell has received in carrying out the programme," Pathak said.

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)-1 report, the NTCP was launched in Jharkhand in 2012, when the state's tobacco prevalence rate was 51.1 percent, with 48 percent being smokeless users.

According to the GATS-2 report, which was published in 2018, tobacco users in the state fell to 38.9 percent, with 35.4 percent being smokeless users.

"To reduce it further, Jharkhand launched a slew of measures between 2018 and 2022," Pathak explained.

"The Union Health Ministry, WHO, and dedicated state and district health teams have made significant contributions to lowering the tobacco prevalence rate in Jharkhand," he said.

About World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Award:

Each WHO region will receive a maximum of six World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) awards. Two of the awardees may receive special recognition through the WHO Director-General Special Recognition Award.

The nominee may be an individual, a group (for example, a non-governmental organization devoted to tobacco control), or a government department/Ministry that has made a significant contribution to tobacco control.

The nominee must have made a significant contribution to the advancement of the policies and measures outlined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its accompanying guidelines, particularly in relation to the World No Tobacco Day theme.