The Director of Ghana Health Service, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa has warned that the rate at which smoking is causing harm in the society is alarming, therefore smoking in public places must be eschewed until Parliament approves the bill to bar people from smoking in the public.

Prof. Akosa said people must refrain from smoking in places such as restaurants, drinking bars, markets and all social gatherings, since not only smokers get infected but also those who are near them.

He said the government spends a great amount of money on the health sector and will have to make it possible to minimize non-communicable diseases that can be prevented. "It is important to make public places smoke free areas to avoid unwanted non-communicable diseases," he said.

Prof. Akosa said these on "World No-Tobacco Day" in Accra last Friday.

The Country's Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Melville George said the yearly celebration is aimed at drawing the attention of the general public to the danger of using tobacco and the impact of advertising and promotional campaigns.

It is also to highlight what can be done and how people can join the fight against the tobacco epidemic, to protest and promote health and healthy living for future generations.

Dr. George said this year's celebration dubbed "Tobacco Free Sports - Play It Clean" is in response to the global appeal for action which promoted the WHO and its partners to launch a campaign to clean sports of all forms of tobacco, its consumption, exposure to second hand smoke, tobacco advertising, promotion and marketing.

He commented on tobacco advertising and use in the entertainment and sports industry projecting images of smokers as fun loving, glamorous, and most insidiously healthy. "Attractive images and people who are smoking is a powerful tool for enhancing self-image."

The Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kofi Ahmed speaking on behalf of the Minister for Health said the two leading killer diseases worldwide are AIDS and tobacco related diseases, and much attention must be given to that.

He said the tobacco smoke contains more than four thousand chemicals, forty-three of which are known to cause cancer. He said the health problems caused by tobacco are unique in that it involves in most cases, spending money to purchase a product that has essentially no positive contribution to ones life, and is addictive, and causes illness and death.