World Health Organisation launches Quit Tobacco App

Context

Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region (SEAR) has launched a ‘Quit Tobacco App’.

Key-points

• This application helps people to give up the use of tobacco in all forms, including smokeless and other newer products. 
• The App was launched by Regional Director, WHO-SEAR, during WHO’s year-long ‘Commit to quit’ campaign, is the latest tobacco control initiative by the WHO South-East Asia Region.
• The app, the first such by WHO, and the first that targets all forms of tobacco, helps users to identify the triggers, set their targets, manage cravings, and stay focused to quit tobacco.
  • It claims 1.6 million lives in the WHO South-East Asia Region which is amongst the largest producers and consumers of tobacco products.
  • Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of preventable death and kills nearly 8 million persons every year. 

World Health Organisation

• The WHO was established on 7 April 1948, which is commemorated as World Health Day.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with six semi-autonomous regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.
• The first meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the agency’s governing body, took place on 24 July 1948.
• The WHA, composed of representatives from all 194 member states, serves as the agency’s supreme decision-making body.
• The WHA convenes annually and is responsible for selecting the Director-General, setting goals and priorities, and approving the WHO’s budget and activities.
• The WHO is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
• It is part of the U.N. Sustainable Development Group.
• The WHO Constitution, which establishes the agency’s governing structure and principles, states its main objective as ensuring “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.”