Over 5,000 people die each year in Moldova to consumption of tobacco or exposure to tobacco. According to a national study, 3 in 10 adults between the ages of 18 and 69 actively smoke. The data are presented by the National Agency for Public Health in the context of the National Day to Quit Tobacco Consumption, marked annually on the third Thursday of November.

According to the same study, more men actively smoke. The number of smokers is increasing, especially among young people between the ages of 18 and 25, both men and women.

Public health experts warn that all tobacco products – cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, hookah tobacco, heated tobacco, as well as related products such as e-cigarettes and smoking herbal products – are dangerous and seriously affect the health and lives of consumers and those around.

It is not very easy to quit smoking because of the addiction caused by nicotine. But medical counseling and nicotine addiction treatment can double a user’s chances of successfully quitting. It is shown that simple advice from healthcare professionals can increase success rates of quitting to 30%, while intensive counseling increases the chance of quitting by 84%.

For more information on how to quit smoking, people can access the platform www.prosanatate.md or call 0 800 10001, the green line of the National Narcology Dispensary. Here smokers can access counseling services and smoking cessation programs.