The World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2021 campaign will encourage at least 100 million people to try to give up tobacco around the world. Furthermore, “Commit to Quit” will aim to create environments conducive to health by advocating for strong tobacco cessation policies, increasing access and scaling-up existing cessation services, implementing innovative new programs, creating a network of support through online tobacco cessation communities, raising awareness of tobacco industry tactics, and empowering tobacco users to make quit attempts through “Quit & Win” and other call-to-action campaigns.
According to current evidence, COVID-19 virus is transmitted between people through respiratory droplets particularly when coughing. Smokers are likely to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 as the act of smoking means that fingers (and possibly contaminated cigarettes) are in directly contact with lips, eyes and nose which increases the possibility of transmission of virus from hand to mouth. Smokers may also already have lung disease or reduced lung capacity, well-known as a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD), which would greatly increase risk of serious COVID-19. In addition, sharing tobacco products among users such as water pipes, known as E-cigarettes, often involve the sharing of mouth pieces and hoses, which could facilitate the transmission of COVID-19 in community and social settings.
National Centre for Health Promotion (NCHP) of Ministry of Health (MoH), Cambodia is conducting a Campaign of WNTD 2021 under the topic of "Commit to Quit" in the context of COVID-19 at 6 provinces: Stung Treng, Kratie, Takeo, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang and Kampot province. With collaboration of healthcare providers, outreach team, local authorities and VHVGs, this campaign is aiming to encourage, motivate and provide support with righteous advice from experts to tobacco users in order to get them started and committed to quit smoking successfully and also contribute to reducing the risk of severe COVID-19 transmission. As expected outcomes, there are 7,800 smokers who will receive brief advice and/or enrolled in tobacco cessation counseling services at their health facilities and 780 smokers who will quit smoking successfully.