World No Tobacco Day Archives

Besides the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva that saw the release of many reports and news, this was a week of a plethora of other articles and evidence published worldwide. Fellow physicians selected the most important ones and shared them on the Among Doctors network:

Management of Chronic Insomnia Disorder in Adults: A Clinical Practice Guideline
The American College of Physicians recommends that all adult patients receive cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) as the initial treatment for chronic insomnia disorder. (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence)
Comparative effectiveness and safety of strategies for preventing NSAID-associated gastrointestinal toxicity: Systematic Review & Metanalysis
The combination of selective COX-2 inhibitors plus PPIs provides the best gastrointestinal protection, followed by selective COX-2 inhibitors, and thirdly by nonselective NSAIDs plus PPIs.
Efficacy, Tolerability, and Dose-Dependent Effects of Opioid Analgesics for Low Back Pain: Systematic Review & Meta-analysis
For people with chronic low back pain who tolerate the medicine, opioid analgesics provide modest short-term pain relief but the effect is not likely to be clinically important within guideline recommended doses.
A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis of Dual Bronchodilation With LAMA/LABA for the Treatment of Stable COPD
Dual bronchodilation is better than a LAMA or a LABA alone, regardless of the drugs used.
Blood-Pressure Lowering in Intermediate-Risk Persons without Cardiovascular Disease
Therapy with candesartan at a dose of 16 mg per day plus hydrochlorothiazide at a dose of 12.5 mg per day was not associated with a lower rate of major cardiovascular events than placebo among persons at intermediate risk who did not have cardiovascular disease.
World No Tobacco Day 2016
For this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the WHO are calling on countries to get ready for plain (standardized) packaging of tobacco products.
WHO releases report on Attacks on Health Care
Over the two-year period from January 2014 to December 2015, there were 594 reported attacks on health care that resulted in 959 deaths and 1561 injuries in 19 countries with emergencies.
Prevention of sexual transmission of Zika virus
An updated guide to inform the general public, and to be used by health care workers and policy makers to provide guidance on appropriate sexual practices in the context of Zika virus.

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The World #NoTobacco Day is an annual awareness day organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31st May, aiming at highlighting the health risks of tobacco use and prompting governments to take actions against smoking. According to the WHO, while tobacco use kills nearly 6 million people each year, approximately 1 country in 3 has minimal or no restrictions at all on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Over the last three years, the WHO has focused on the advertising ban, increased taxation and tackling the smuggling of tobacco products, all of which are actions based on evidence from epidemiological studies. This year, the World No Tobacco Day promotes the implementation of the standardized plain packaging of tobacco products.

Plain packaging is a proven measure that tackles consumption by making tobacco products less attractive to consumers, curbing the use of promotional material on the package, limiting misleading design techniques suggesting that some products are less harmful than others, and increasing the effectiveness of health warnings. The package should bear only the name of the brand and product name in standardized characters and dark colors.

The measure was first adopted in Australia in 2012, where early evidence suggests that it has begun to achieve its public health objectives. Since then plain packaging laws have been passed in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, while several other countries are evaluating the implementation of such a measure.

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