The member states of the World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic. In 1988, Resolution WHA42.19 was passed, calling for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day, Every year on 31st May.
This year theme is “COMMIT TO QUIT”.As a part of health sector it was our duty to take some initiative on this World No Tobacco Day.
On this occasion, Department of Public Health Dentistry and National Service Scheme unit of Navodaya Dental College and Hospital organized a webinar and E-poster competition.
WEBINAR:
A webinar is an online seminar that turns a presentation into a real-time conversation from anywhere in the world. So we used this platform to convey our “COMMIT TO QUIT” message.
The programme was scheduled from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm on 31st May. Online registration forms were given to various sister institutions of Navodaya education trust. Nearly 450 delegates enrolled for the webinar and 310 were participated. The programme started with welcome speech by Dr. Girish Katti, Principal, Navodaya Dental College and sir also enlightened the importance of the day. Dr.Suresh Babu, Professor, department of public health dentistry and Dr.Vajendra Joshi Professor, Department of oral medicine and radiology introduced the guest speakers for the day. The program went on well as per the schedule. First guest speaker was   Dr. Sudheendra Huddar , senior resident Psychiatrist, centre for addiction medicine, NIMHANS, Bengaluru. He spoke about “IMPACT OF TOBACCO ABUSE ON HEALTH AND PHARMACOLOGY”. Our second speaker was Dr.Shreedevi, Assistant Professor, Department of psychiatric social work, NIMHANS, Bengaluru. Madam topic was “INTERVENTIONS AND HELP AVAILABLE TO QUIT TOBACCO AND RELATED PRODUCTS”. The lectures were informative and highlighted about the ill effects of smoking and smokeless form of tobacco and its prevention. At the end of the sessions, we asked the participants to raise the doubts in chat box and all the queries were well answered by the guest speakers. The last session of the webinar was educational and  motivational video screened by Dr.Latha, Assistant Professor, Department of mental health education, NIMHANS, Bengaluru. Finally the program was concluded with Vote of thanks, given by Dr. Zaheer Ahmed, Professor, Public Health Dentistry Department and NSS programme officer, NDC. The programme was moderated by Dr. Pritam Chatterjee, PG, dept of Public Health Dentistry. All participants received e-certificate at the end of the program.
POSTER COMPETITION:
A poster speaks for itself. Department of Public Health Dentistry and National Service Scheme of Navodaya Dental College and Hospital hosted an E-poster competition for undergraduate students of various dental colleges on 31st may 2021. The competition was based on the theme “tobacco and oral health”. A total of 140 posters from 16 dental colleges across 4 states (Karnataka, Telengana, AndraPradesh & Maharastra) were received through E-mail. These posters were sent to two jury members, who selected the BEST 8 posters and these posters were presented through online by one of the participant of each poster. The programme started at 1 pm with opening remark by Dr.Girish Katti, Principal, Navodaya Dental College. Dr.Suresh Babu Professor, PHD introduced the jury members. Dr. Manish Kumar,Professor & Head, Department of public health dentistry and Dr.Pavan Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of oral medicine and radiology from Geetham Dental college, Vishakhapatnam were the jury members. The finalists of the posters were announced and informed before by Dr Somanath Reddy, Reader,dept of Public Health Dentistry. Best 8 posters were asked to present their posters and 3 minutes time was given for presentation followed by 2 minutes for questionnaire session after presentation. Final winners were decided based on their presentation and answering skills and were announced by jury members. E-certificates were given to all participants and winners , prizes will be awarded to winners. The session was ended with vote of thanks by Dr Naseha Nazeer, PG, Public Health Dentistry.
Our college students won the second prize in poster competition.
