No Smoking Day campaign organisers rely on OH practitioners to help spread
the word at local level
Occupational health nurses will be vital to the success of next month’s
national No Smoking Day, which last year encouraged 40,000 smokers to quit for
good.
Free resource packs are available from the No Smoking Day campaign, along
with factsheets, posters, stickers, banners, pens, postcards, Post-it notes,
umbrellas, travel toothbrushes and activity ideas to help people give up
smoking.
This year’s No Smoking Day will be on 14 March and is themed Kiss it
Goodbye, with events being held up and down the country.
The campaign, now in its 18th year, saw 1 million people give up in 2000,
with 40,000 quitting for good.
It was particularly effective at targeting younger people, especially women,
with 17 per cent of men aged 16 to 24 and 22 per cent of women of a similar age
attempting to quit last year.
There are currently about 12 million smokers in the UK, of whom two out of
three want to quit, said the campaign.
No Smoking Day aims to encourage and help smokers who want to quit to give
up, involve as many individuals and organisations as possible and help to
achieve national and local health targets.
Local activities often include carbon monoxide testing, stalls, displays,
competitions, photo shoots and balloon releases in schools, leisure centres,
companies, hospitals and youth clubs.
The campaign is particularly keen to get nurses on board to raise awareness
locally.
"We rely heavily on occupational health professionals to get involved.
To create awareness we rely on publicity in local areas. Usually it is just on
one day, but health professionals will often make a whole week of it,"
said a campaign spokeswoman.
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Resource packs can be obtained until 2 March from the No Smoking Day Press
Office, Unit 203, 16 Baldwins Gardens, London EC1 7RJ, 020-7916 1635 or by
downloading the information from the Internet.
