‘World no Tobacco’ day

The ‘World no Tobacco’ day was organised in AIIMS Mangalagiri with a series of events. The focus of the programs was the WHO current year theme “Protecting youth from industries manipulation and preventing them from tobacco and nicotine use”, All events were organized taking into account the Government of India advisories like social distancing, wearing of masks, etc. The activities conducted were a Webinar to highlight the effects of tobacco usage in the oral cavity for the medical and nursing staff, which was attended by more than a 50 participants. A sensitization program on the ill effect of tobacco was also conducted for the nursing officers. A multi modal and multilingual awareness program on the danger of tobacco consumption with demonstration and hands on training on oral self examination and highlighting the menace of spitting in public was well received. The training was given to the construction workers, housekeeping, security personnel, nursing orderlies and other staff of AIIMS Mangalagiri in Telugu, Hindi and English using various modalities like power point presentations, flip charts, etc. As an innovative methodology to disseminate the WHO theme, young healthcare workers across the nation participated in e-poster and short video competition to deliver content that effectively targets the youth. An overwhelming response with more than 90 poster and 30 video submissions were received. All these activities will go a long way in abdicating tobacco usage among the population.