November, 15th - the International day of refusal of smoking

Annually every third Thursday of November in the majority of countries of the world the International Day of refusal of smoking is celebrated. It was established by the American Oncologic Society in 1977.
The holiday purpose: to promote decrease of prevalence of tobacco dependence and to involve the population and doctors in struggle against smoking, tobacco smoking prevention, informing the society on fatal influence of tobacco on health.
According to World Health Organization, all over the world 90 % of deaths from a cancer of lungs, 75 % from a chronic bronchitis and 25 % from an ischemic heart trouble are bound to smoking.
According to Ministry of Health, in Russia there are about 44 million smokers, that is about the third part of population of the country. Annually almost 400 thousand Russians die because of this habit, and number of able-bodied population is reduced to 1 million persons.