Winners of Quit and Win smoking competition get prizes

Accra, Aug. 18, GNA - Dr Sam Adjei, Deputy Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), on Wednesday cautioned parents against the initiation of their children into tobacco smoking by sending them to buy tobacco or cigarettes.

He said by sending children to buy such harmful products as tobacco and alcohol, children were tempted to imitate their parents by trying to taste smoking.

Dr Adjei gave the warning at a ceremony to give awards to winners of the sixth "Quit and Win Ghana 2004 Smoking Competition", instituted by the GHS and supported by the World Heath Organisation (WHO).

The Quit and Win competition is an international smoking cessation programme, designed to encourage people to stop smoking with the aid of a positive incentive.

The first award winner received a 14 inch colour television, with the second and third receiving CD cassette players each, whiles the fourth to seventh winners took away smaller cassette players each. Dr Adjei stated that tobacco smoking had been found to be high among the youth worldwide.

He attributed this high prevalence among the youth to early exposure and peer pressure and said if the trend were not reversed, tobacco related deaths that currently stood at four million a year worldwide could increase to seven million.

He said a survey on tobacco smoking by the GHS showed that more than 14 per cent of Junior Secondary School students had tried smoking cigarettes while over 19 per cent currently uses tobacco products.

"About 55 per cent of such students who bought cigarettes in a store were not refused purchase despite their age and over 21 per cent of JSS students lived in homes where others smoke," he noted.

Dr. Adjei said to be able to control the current situation, there was the need to develop, support and promote comprehensive measures and coordinate response to protect all persons from exposure to tobacco smoke and promote cessation to decrease consumption.

He also called on Parliament to expedite action on the passage of legislation against the use of tobacco in the country, to help curb the health problems resulting from tobacco smoking.

Dr Adjei further emphasised the need to discourage workplace smoking as well as smoking in public places since "such habits expose great health dangers to those who inhale the smoke," and advised the winners to live as testimonies and encourage others to quit smoking. Mr Melville George, WHO Country Representative, said the Quit and Win campaign had demonstrated that innovative, community-based approach was effective in mobilising and motivating unprecedented number of people to make a joint and sustained effort to stop smoking over a specific period of time.

He said the campaign offered direct and positive incentives as it gave the chance for participants to win a range of attractive prizes at both local and international levels.

Mr George reiterated an earlier appeal for all to join in the campaign against tobacco smoking.