The day is further intended to draw global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and its negative health effects.
Globally, tobacco use accounts for eight million deaths annually, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to Evariste Ntaganda, the cardiovascular diseases officer at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, the government has done a lot to take some actions such as strengthening legislation promoting smoke free environments, health warnings on cigarette packages and increasing taxes on tobacco products.
When preventing the use of tobacco in such a generation, it means that we are putting more effort in controlling its use in future generations, which is our target," he says.
The strategy, he explains, is also to target young people in different fora such as in schools, youth organisations and media, as well as open discussions, in order to present all this information and at the same time answer participants' concerns.
