(WHAS11) The Metro Health Department has launched a new campaign using text messages as a way to get teens to stop smoking; and they’ve recruited members of the group Nappy Roots to help spread the word.
Nappy Roots group members B-Stille and Clutch stopped by the WHAS11 studios on Thursday to give us more information about this campaign.
Drug-buying agency Pharmac is to fund another treatment to help people quit smoking.
The smoking cessation treatment known as Champix will become available next week on prescription for adults.
The move is part of a multi-product agreement between Pharmac and the drug firm Pfizer.
Pharmac medical director Peter Moodie says Champix will be part of Medsafe's Intensive Medicines Monitoring programme, because of safety concerns.
Dr Moodie says anyone wanting to go on Champix should have first tried other simpler treatments, such as nicotine replacement therapy, Zyban, and nortriptyline.
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But Hartlepool, where an estimated one in three adults smoke, leads the way nationally for helping people quit.
Last year Hartlepool's Stop Smoking Services persuaded 1,934 people to give up cigarettes by holding clinics in community centres, pubs, and children's centres across the town.
Carole Johnson, health improvement lead for NHS Hartlepool, said: "Smoking rates and deaths from respiratory disease in Hartlepool are higher than the national average and the town has a high incidence of lung cancer, particularly among women.
"Hartlepool has an extremely successful Stop Smoking Service. Once again for 2009-2010 Hartlepool achieved the highest four-week quit rates in the country.
"Overall in Hartlepool there has been a steady decline in smoking prevalence."
The PCT added it was doing a number of things to tackle smoking in the town, including helping pregnant smokers to quit and a training programme for staff who work with children and families on the dangers of second-hand smoke.
Dr Katie Elmer, consultant chest physician at the University Hospital of Hartlepool, said smoking is a major cause of early death in the town and warned admissions for chest conditions are expected to rise during winter.
She said: "The biggest thing anyone can do to improve their health is to give up smoking."
Figures for smoking-related hospital admissions were released by the Association of Public Health Authorities Observatories (APHO), a public health intelligence organisation.
The cost for neighbouring North Tees primary care trust, which covers Billingham, was £4,017,653, while County Durham PCT, which covers Peterlee and east Durham, reached £11,493,469.
The figures come as the APHO publishes tobacco profiles for the North-East detailing levels of illness and avoidable death caused by smoking.
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Residents at Keewaydin Plaza and Sunnyslope Homes in Kennewick have until Sept. 1, 2011, to crush their smoking habit or vacate their apartments and duplexes under rules adopted Tuesday by the Kennewick Housing Authority board.
The new smoke-free rule takes effect Feb. 1, requiring current residents to sign new leases agreeing to the rule by March 1.
But current residents will be allowed to take advantage of a grace period until Sept. 1 if they sign an exemption that will allow them to smoke in their rooms until then. After that, though, they will have to quit the habit or move.
Housing board members also agreed to establish designated smoking areas at Keewaydin Plaza, Sunnyslope Homes and Mitchell Manor -- the authority's three properties in Kennewick which provide about 150 public housing units.
Tuesday's decision came after the five-member board weighed the desire to have a smoke-free policy with concerns of residents who protested being forced to quit smoking.
"This is going to be hard for a lot of our elderly people," said Debbie Hathaway, who lives in the 66-unit high-rise Keewaydin Plaza at Washington Street and 6th Avenue.
"We are being isolated and mistreated simply because we are handicapped," added Caroline Aldridge, a former resident of Keewaydin Plaza who said as a former smoker she sympathizes with those who still have the habit.
Board member Laurie Tufford said she had heard the concerns and wanted to make the smoke-free rule as easy on the residents as possible.
"This has really caused some havoc at Keewaydin. They are very passionate about this," Tufford said.
Jack Robinson, a Keewaydin Plaza resident, suggested the board declare all units smoke-free except those occupied by smokers.
Then when the smokers leave on their own it could declare those units smoke-free.
"It might take a year or two or five, but eventually you'd have everything smoke-free," he said.
Christopher Webb, who sits on the board as a resident of Sunnyslope Homes, said he would support a smoke-free rule if the board would help residents by designating smoking areas or helping them find other housing.
Board president Amy Ward, who is executive director for Tobacco Free Benton-Franklin Counties, supported having designated smoking areas.
"(Without it) we would be encouraging people to break the rule," she said.
Ward said public housing agencies in Walla Walla, Franklin and Umatilla counties already have smoke-free policies.
"We are the doughnut hole," she said.
But Ward did not support the motion to establish the smoke-free policy with designated smoking areas and the six-month grace period. She abstained, while the four remaining board members voted for it.
Board member Tom Moak proposed the grace period, saying it wasn't right to force elderly and disabled residents to go outside in the middle of winter for a smoke.
Home smoking ban in works
Residents of Keewaydin Plaza and Sunnyslope Homes in Kennewick would be banned from smoking in their homes if the Kennewick Housing Authority decides today to proceed with new rules.
The authority board is to meet at 1:30 p.m. in the community center at Sunnyslope Homes, 1915 W. Fourth Place, in Kennewick to consider adding the smoke-free policy to its lease agreements, effective Feb. 1.
About half the tenants in the 66-unit Keewaydin Plaza signed a petition protesting the smoking ban. Tenants who refuse to sign the new lease would be required to move out within 30 days.
Kennewick housing residents may face ultimatum: Kick the habit or get kicked out
KENNEWICK — More than two dozen residents at Keewaydin Plaza on Sixth Avenue in Kennewick are protesting a proposed ban on smoking at the 65-unit public housing facility, saying it would force evictions for those who can't give up the habit.
"I think it sucks. I'm a smoker. This is not fair at all," said Sheila Wolf, who has lived in the Kennewick Housing Authority's high-rise apartments for four years.
Wolf, who uses a wheelchair to get around, is one of 30 people who signed petitions objecting to the proposed change in the lease agreements that would take effect Feb. 1.
Spain says 'Adios' to smoking in bars, cafes
Spain, famed for its smoke-filled bars, corner cafes and restaurants, set the stage Wednesday for a tough new anti-smoking law that will rid the country of its dubious status as one of Western Europe's easiest places to light up.
The bill passed by parliamentary commission calls for transforming all bars and restaurants into no-smoking zones, bringing Spain in line with the European Union's strictest anti-smoking nations and many U.S. states that bar smoking in enclosed public places. It's expected to pass the Senate and become law on Jan. 2.
The law also will make Spain a tougher place to smoke than many other European countries where bars and restaurants are still allowed to have smoking sections, and will prohibit smoking in outdoor places such as playgrounds and the grounds of schools and hospitals.
Library staff call former boss 'bully'
Danielle Krol's exit from the Mid-Columbia Libraries was welcomed by some of her current and former staff.
"She was a visionary and I give her credit for bringing the library out of the Dark Ages, but she was a textbook bully," said Ann Reeves, who worked for 21/2 years under Krol in staff training.
"She had the board convinced she had everything going well, but it was all about control. Staff was forbidden to speak to any board member," Reeves said.
Social service agencies seeing increased demand
People working in social services in the Tri-Cities are seeing a rising demand despite the relatively stable local economy.
They also are seeing government funding cuts for welfare programs and reductions in charitable giving, leaving more and more people falling through the cracks even as the Tri-Cities remains one of the only places in the country seeing consistent job growth.
Directors of three local agencies told the Columbia Basin Badger Club on Friday the statistics are disheartening, especially when they're seeing less money invested in prevention programs that could save society costs in the long-term.
NEW figures show almost one-in-four women in the North East smoke while pregnant. Health Reporter Helen Rae reports.
A SHOCK report reveals pregnant women in the region are much more likely to smoke than those in the South.
Illustrating the link between smoking-related diseases and Englands poorest communities, a survey by the Association of Public Health Observatories found that 23% of women in the North East smoked while they were pregnant in 2008/09, compared with 4% in Richmond, Surrey.
The worst affected areas in the region included South Tyneside, County Durham and Sunderland.
Martyn Willmore, performance improvement delivery manager at Fresh North East, said: The statistics do not surprise me as this is an issue that must be addressed.
It reflects the higher smoking rates among women compared to men up to 23% of women in the North East smoke and 17% of men.
Midwives play an important role in helping drive down smoking rates in pregnancy and we need to ensure theyre educating women about the dangers smoking poses to their unborn child and that they are pushing the stop smoking message. We also need to ensure pregnant women are given the appropriate help and support through our stop smoking services.
Overall, nearly 15% of women who gave birth across England in the same period said they smoked.
Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to a variety of health problems including premature birth, low birth weight, cot death, childhood asthma, miscarriage and breathing problems in the first six months of life.
Kerry Lynch, public health specialist at NHS North of Tyne, said: Work is ongoing with our partners in maternity services and stop smoking services to help pregnant women quit smoking and we have free specialist support from our stop smoking pregnancy specialists.
When a pregnant woman smokes, the baby is subjected to the same effects and the same harmful chemicals.
Breathing in other peoples smoke can also have implications.
Accra, Oct. 26, GNA - Smoking among Junior High School students has not increased over the years, though more needs to be done to reduce the trend among young smokers, a study by Ghana Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), said on Tuesday.The survey therefore recommended the use of the media to uncover, expose and inhibit tobacco consumption and its harmful effect and the tobacco industry.Disseminating the findings of the 2009 survey at the Lekma Cluster of Schools in Accra, Mrs Edith Wellington, Focal Person on Tobacco Control of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said the GYTS is a school-based tobacco specific survey, which focuses on adolescents between 13-15 years.Ghana first participated in the multi-country initiative in 2000, repeated it in 2006 and in 2009. She said the survey was aimed at documenting and monitoring the prevalence of tobacco-use.It assessed learners' knowledge, beliefs and attitudes related to tobacco-using behaviour, as well as smoking cessation and environmental tobacco smoke.On prevalence students who ever smoked was 8.9 per cent as compared to 11.5 per cent in 2006 and 14.6 per cent in 2000. The survey noted that 38.8 per cent boys and 28.8 per cent girls in 2009, and 40.8 per cent boys and 29.1 per cent girls in 2006 were of the view that people who smoke have more friends while 12.8 per cent boys and 11.6 per cent girls in 2009 taught that those who smoke looked more attractive compared to 15.2 per cent boys and 13.1 per cent girls in 2006 and 17.9 per cent for boys and 16 per cent for girls in 2000. On access to and availability of cigarettes, Mrs Wellington said in 2009, 35.5 per cent of current smokers indicated they usually smoked at home and that it was significantly lower than the 40.8 per cent of current smokers in 2006 and 24.4 per cent in 2000.There was however a significant difference across the three surveys in terms of the availability of cigarettes. In 2009, 26.9 per cent of current smokers usually bought their cigarettes in a store, while in 2006 34.3 per cent had their cigarettes from stores and in 2000 49.3 per cent purchased their cigarettes in a store.In 2009, close to nine out of 10 pupils who currently smoked cigarettes, and eight out of the 10 in 2006, reported that they wanted to stop smoking at the time of the survey. However, in 2000 92.5 per cent wanted to stop smoking.Majority of pupils in the three surveys had tried to stop smoking during the past year. Similarly, a higher percentage of current smokers at the time of the survey reported that they had ever received help to quit the habit.Ms Sophia Twum- Barimah, Communications Officer of the World Health Organisation (WHO) who spoke on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first international health treaty spearheaded by the organisation said it was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2003. The adoption of the treaty followed a process of two years of negotiations with governments, non-governmental organisations and interested persons and provided governments with a supportive environment so that tobacco control interventions could be implemented at national levels.The aim of the FCTC she said was to reduce smoking and other forms of tobacco use, which is responsible for innumerable illnesses and deaths.She said the treaty requires governments to "develop, implement, periodically update and review comprehensive multi-sectoral national tobacco control strategies, plans and programmes", relating to price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, protection from exposure to tobacco smoke and regulation of the contents of tobacco products.According to Ms Twun Barimah, Ghana has signed and ratified the WHO FCTC but was yet to enact legislation, even though a Tobacco Control Bill has been drafted and been reviewed many times. This notwithstanding, she said Ghana has been involved in tobacco control having recognised that the spread of the tobacco epidemic is a global problem with serious consequences for public health.Tobacco use is rising steadily especially among the youth and there is also evidence of a rise in the incidence of non-communicable diseases like cancers and strokes as well as hypertension have all been linked to its use, she said and called for concerted efforts to stem the tide.GNA