Tobacco is a threat to the environment and human health.

The 2022 World No-Tobacco Day campaign focuses on tobacco's threat to the environment. It aims to raise awareness on the environmental impact of tobacco throughout its lifecycle, demonstrating its destructive impact not only on human health, but also on the environment and the planet. It also aims to expose efforts of the tobacco industry to "greenwash" their reputation and products by increasingly portraying their activities as environmentally friendly.The campaign messages demonstrate the varied ways that tobacco cultivation, production, distribution, consumption, and post-consumer waste threaten the environment. Tobacco destroys forests, harms the soil, affects water supply, pollutes the air, and contributes to other types of unsustainable environmental damage.

Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in entertainment media: a phenomenon requiring stronger controls in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Tobacco use and placement of tobacco products in television (TV) productions and movies is a way to promote tobacco use while avoiding tobacco advertising bans that exist in most countries. The fact that such productions are broadcast widely and viewed by millions, including children and young people, is of concern. This paper reviews the evidence on the use of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) in TV and films in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and the ways to combat it. Evidence from Egypt shows considerable and increasing use of tobacco products by actors on screen, including female actors, in programmes aired during Ramadan in 2015-2017. A study of Iranian movies in 2015 showed that tobacco scenes in Iranian movies were increasing. In 2014, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean held a consultative meeting on TAPS in drama. The consultation recommended regulating the tobacco presence in movies and TV through complete implementation of Article 13 of the WHO FCTC, and raising the issue to the WHO FCTC Conference of the Parties. In 2016, the Conference of the Parties called on parties to consider scaling up the implementation of WHO FCTC Article 13 and monitoring the use of TAPS in entertainment media in accordance with national legislation. A comprehensive approach is essential to end the tobacco industry's use of TV productions and movies to promote their products.

Scaling up prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Surveillance is an essential component in the campaign to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), both globally and in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). In order to address the increasing burden from these diseases, countries must first evaluate their own systems and see what steps need to be taken to improve preparedness. Therefore, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Cairo, Egypt, conducts country capacity surveys on a regular basis to compare each Member State's NCD provision to the Framework for Action to implement the UN Political Declaration (2011). Ten progress indicators cover governance and planning, reducing risk factors and healthcare provision. Each one is scored for whether a country is fully, partially or not achieving this goal. This review focuses on comparing the Progress Monitor reports for the 22 EMR countries in 2015 and 2017. While the criteria used to assess some of the indicators have been updated over this period, many categories still show strong improvements. However, others still require extensive work if countries are to meet the sustainable development goal of reducing by 25% the number of premature deaths from NCDs by the year 2025.