Third edition of "No smoking!" movie festival starts

/By Azernews/

By Laman Ismayilova

The third edition of "No smoking!" movie festival has kicked off in Baku, Trend Life reported.

The festival, organized by the youth association ADDIM and the public health and reforms center of the Health Ministry is dedicated to World No Tobacco Day, which is marked around the world on May 31.

The aim of the 'No smoking' film festival is to motivate people to quit smoking, inform and support the people, who are ready to break their bad habit.

"The event has been held since 2013 and aroused great interest among young people. At the previous two festivals, there were presented about 150 works," said Huseyn Javadzadeh, the head of the festival.

The motto of the festival is "Instead of Smoking, shot a film".

The festival features short films against smoking, while various events and promo actions are taking place in the country's regions.

Winners will be announced on November 17- International day of Smoking cessation.

Every year, on May 31, the World Health Organization and its partners mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year, of whom more than 600,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke.

The WHO cites some 25 diseases which worsen under tobacco influence, including cardiac, lung trouble, and cancer.

According to researches, 45 percent of men in Azerbaijan smoke. Moreover, the number of women smokers has increased -- from 3 percent six to seven years ago to the current 10 percent.