On 24 December 2018, Niue’s Parliament adopted a first ever comprehensive tobacco control legislation aiming to “protect the health of the people of Niue from the diseases caused by tobacco use and tobacco smoke”, in compliance with the WHO FCTC. The law was published in the national Gazette on …

On 14 December, 2018, a new regulation on plain cigarette packaging in Thailand was officially gazetted, making Thailand the first country in Asia and the first middle-income country to adopt plain packaging for tobacco products. Starting from 10 September, 2019, when the legislation will officially enter into force, all new tobacco products at sale will be required to meet the standards of plain packaging. Previous stock of non-standardized tobacco packs can be sold until 8 December, 2019.

On 19 November 2018, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Colombia, in collaboration with Universidad del Valle, presented new youth smoking prevalence statistics from the first ever Global Youth Tobacco Survey (in Spanish: Encuesta Nacional Tabaquismo en Jóvenes, ENTJ) implemented in Colombia.

New smoking prevalence statistics from the latest Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in Ukraine were released on 15 November 2018, the International No Smoking Day. The new data were presented by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the WHO Country Office in Ukraine and the NGO Advocacy Center "Life".