The Ghana Health Service is advocating a ban on the use of cigarettes in Ghanaian movies as a way of controlling the use of tobacco in the country. The call comes as countries across the world mark No Tobacco Day Friday May 31. World No Tobacco Day highlights the health risks associated with tobacco use and the need for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. The theme for this year’s celebration is‘ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.’ Deputy Director and Head of Disease Control Department at the Service, Dr. Kyei Faried, told Joy News, although there have been some progress made in fighting tobacco use in Ghana, stopping smoking in movies will go a long way to bring success to the fight. Dr Faried believes GHS has already made positive progress on some fronts in the fight against tobacco smoking. “For instance in Ghana you cannot [find] tobacco advertised openly”, he stated. According to him, to facilitate the success of the fight against smoking, every agency must take up a responsibility towards the fight. He said the Ghana Health Service’s plan for the year is to meet the leadership of the movie industry in the country to see they can prevent actors from “sticking a cigarette into their lips”. Dr Faried also wants movie makers to start including to their scripts statements that will discourage smoking. He believes this approach would be successful because the law prohibits “any act that will negatively influence somebody on the use of tobacco”.