Skopje, 30 May 2025 – The South-Eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) proudly joins the World Health Organization and public health allies around the globe in marking World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on 31 May 2025, under the global theme: “Unmask the Appeal – #TobaccoExposed.”
This year’s campaign puts the spotlight on the manipulative strategies used by the tobacco and nicotine industries to attract new users, especially children and young people. These include flavoured products, misleading packaging, digital marketing, and the normalization of tobacco use in public and private settings.
To deepen understanding and inspire action, SEEHN encourages viewing the recorded WHO event held on 13 May 2025, which explored how product design and marketing continue to lure young people into nicotine addiction—and how governments can push back.
📺 Watch the recorded event:
👉 WHO: Unmask the Appeal of Tobacco and Nicotine Products
Tobacco use continues to be a leading cause of preventable disease and death across South-Eastern Europe. According to the eighth edition of WHO’s Tobacco Packaging and Labelling Global Status Report (October 2023)[1], SEEHN Member Countries were ranked (out of 173) as follows:
- Albania – 31
- Bosnia and Herzegovina – 132
- Bulgaria – 31
- Israel – 31
- Moldova (Republic of) – 31
- Montenegro – 141
- North Macedonia – 141
- Romania – 31
- Serbia – 141
SEEHN commends the Republic of Moldova for taking decisive new steps to strengthen its national tobacco control policies. In May 2025, Moldova’s Parliament passed in second reading a comprehensive law developed by the Ministry of Health and the National Agency for Public Health, aimed at closing regulatory gaps and extending protections across all tobacco and related products, including electronic cigarettes and hookahs.
These bold steps place Moldova at the forefront of regional tobacco control efforts and align with FCTC best practices in public space protection, denormalization of tobacco use, and health equity.
SEEHN reaffirms its commitment to tobacco control through stronger regional collaboration, support for national legislation including flavour bans, and public education campaigns that empower youth to resist industry manipulation.
#SEEHN #WorldNoTobaccoDay #WNTD2025 #TobaccoExposed #UnmaskTheAppeal #TobaccoControl #PublicHealth #FCTC #YouthHealth #SouthEasternEurope #HealthEquity #SmokeFree #NicotineAddiction #ProtectChildren #MoldovaHealth #FlavourBan
[1] https://cancer.ca/-/media/files/about-us/media-releases/2024/international-warnings-report/ccs-international-cigarette-packaging-report-2023-english.pdf
