This year's World No Tobacco Day on May 31 highlights the importance of health professionals in the fight against tobacco, which causes nearly 5 million deaths each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.

"Tobacco continues to be a leading global killer. The health community plays a key role in the global effort to fight this epidemic," WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook said in a statement.

"Health professionals are on the frontline. They need the skills to help people stop smoking, and they need to lead by example, and quit tobacco use themselves," he added.

If not taking additional efforts to curb this globally popular epidemic, an estimated 10 million tobacco-related deaths a year will occur by 2020, most of them in developing countries, the Geneva-based United Nations health agency noted.

Health professionals, including doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, midwives and others, are trusted by smoking patients to help them quit smoking. They are themselves health models for the public to lead a healthy life.

Studies show that even brief advice from health professionals can increase the refraining rate against smoking for up to 30 percent, and the quit-smoking treatment led by nurses normally has a up to 50 percent more chance to succeed.

However, new survey shows medical students generally lack training on tobacco cessation techniques.

In January 2004, during a meeting convened by the WHO, several health professional associations adopted a code of practice on tobacco control that lists 14 tangible ways in which these associations can engage in tobacco control.

For example, the associations and their members should act as a role model for their patients, ensure that workplaces and public facilities are smoking and tobacco-free, and support the political process of tobacco control, including the support for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Source: Xinhua