JACOBABAD: The social activists from the Coalition for Tobacco Control – Pakistan (CTC-Pak) on Wednesday observed the World No Tobacco Day 2018 during their nationwide drive entitled “Give priority to health over business, save your hearts from tobacco abuse!” against use of tobacco. Over 250 activists of CTC-Pak participated in the drive. While the world has called for stricter implementation of the tobacco control policies, the people of Pakistan are fighting against cardiovascular diseases (CVD) on an escalated rate due to increased use of tobacco. “Tobacco is the primary contributor to 16 percent of all non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which have emerged as the leading cause of deaths, particularly CVD such as heart attacks. This marks CVD as 19 percent of the total deaths, the highest NCD in Pakistan. Furthermore, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases account for the majority of the deaths by NCDs,” Jan Odhano, Nadeem Behrani, Qurban Ali and other activists remarked while talking to the media. Furthermore, they warned people to protect their hearts from tobacco and said “Tobacco kills, save your heart and save your health”. Published in Daily Times, May 31st 2018.