Smoking or Health – You Are to Choose!

From 17 May to 14 June, the Documents of international organizations reading room (No 207g) will host a theme exhibition "Smoking or Health – you are to Choose!" dedicated to World No Tobacco Day.

This Day was proclaimed on May 17, 1989 by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the 42nd session of the World Health Assembly (resolution WHA42.19) and is celebrated annually on May 31.

In 2023, World No Tobacco Day is held under the motto "We need food, not tobacco".

The exhibition offers readers about 80 documents in Russian and English: books, periodicals, brochures, booklets. These documents reveal the multi-faceted work of the World Health Organization and other organizations aimed at drawing global attention to the tobacco epidemic and its deadly consequences.

The presented exposition will introduce the reader to the problem of tobacco addiction and its consequences, as well as to the measures that are being taken at the international and national levels to reduce the level of tobacco use.

Among the documents presented at the exhibition are the proceedings of scientific and practical conferences, monographs, teaching aids on tobacco prevention, information materials on getting rid of nicotine addiction, etc.

The exhibition includes the following thematic sections:

• Healthy lifestyle: tobacco addiction prevention
• Psychological aspects of nicotine addiction
• Smoking and its impact on health
• Tobacco-free life: how to give up smoking

The exhibition will be useful for healthcare professionals, social and medical workers, teachers, students of higher educational institutions, as well as anyone interested in tobacco addiction and healthy lifestyle issues.

The tobacco epidemic is one of the most serious public health threats that has ever occurred in the world: more than 8,000,000 people die from it every year, including 1,200,000 people who die from the effects of second-hand smoke.

In response to the globalizing "tobacco epidemic", the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) was developed and adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003 and entered into force on 27 February 2005. The Convention's six strategies outline the main steps that States should take to combat tobacco use. These include banning direct and indirect tobacco advertising; raising taxes and prices on tobacco; creating a smoke-free environment in all public and work spaces; placing large and clear graphic health warnings on tobacco product packaging; and providing assistance to those who want to give up the habit.

Belarus signed the Convention on 17 June 2004 and ratified it on 8 September 2005. Thus, our state has undertaken to accept all its conditions at the national, regional and international levels in order to continuously and significantly reduce tobacco consumption. Advertising of tobacco products is prohibited in the country, the requirements for their packaging have been changed in accordance with the requirements of the WHO FCTC, work is underway to create smoking-free territories, and smoking is prohibited in a number of public places.

Useful links:

• WHA56. 1: WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• WHO's tobacco counter measures activity
• Tabacoo: Information bulletin

The opening hours of the exhibition corresponds to the library’s opening hours.
Entrance to the exhibition is available by the library ticket or ticket of the library's social and cultural center.

For more info: (+375 17) 293 27 34.

The article is provided by the Official documents service department.