Promotion of 'Quit Week' for smokers

A total of 100,000 Western Australian adult smokers will either attempt to quit or to cut down on their smoking this week.

Of those, about 12,500 will be successful in quitting, Health Minister Keith Wilson said today.

"The message we want to get across to smokers for Quit Week this year is that if you have ever tried to quit before, try again," Mr Wilson said.

"Most smokers quit on their second or third attempt, but many make several attempts before they finally succeed.

"The key is for smokers not to feel discouraged if they do relapse."

Mr Wilson said smokers who worked in an environment in which their colleagues also smoked, faced special difficulties in quitting.

"Research shows that if smokers are not supported in their attempts to quit, they are less likely to succeed in giving up," he said.

"Smoking restrictions in the workplace help smokers to cut down or quit, because they do not smoke at work and do not smoke more out of work hours to make up for it."

Mr Wilson was speaking at a Quit Week promotion held in Transperth's central workshops in East Perth - a non-smoking environment since 1991.

The Minister said Transperth had helped promote non-smoking to the WA public since 1975 by becoming the first public transport authority in Australia to ban smoking on buses.

In WA, smoking had decreased from 31.2 per cent of the population in 1984 to 24.3 per cent in 1991.

However, the death and disease caused by smoking remained one of the biggest public health problems facing the State.

The WA president of the AMA, Dr Roly Bott, said research had found that smokers were much more likely than non-smokers to be concerned about their health.

The 1989/90 Australian health survey found only about 4.5 per cent of Australians aged 18 and over living in private accommodation described themselves as in 'poor health'.

"However, among people who had ever smoked, the proportion who felt in poor health was more than 50 per cent higher than in people who had never smoked," Dr Bott said.

"People who reported poor health were seven times more likely to say they felt unhappy with their lives than people who described their health as fair, good or excellent.

"In fact, 4.8 per cent of smokers of all ages said they were unhappy, compared with only 3.8 per cent of non-smokers.

"It is not surprising to doctors to find research evidence that smokers' quality of life is affected by their habit.

"Very few smokers are genuinely happy about their smoking and most want to quit.

"Unfortunately, some find it easier than others."

Dr Bott said smokers making a serious attempt to quit needed to ensure that:

·         they set a date to quit;

·         they had a strategy to cope with difficult times;

·         they had support from family and friends;

·         they made a public declaration of their attempt to quit; and

·         that they changed their routine or devised ways of taking their minds off smoking.

"If these basic requirements are taken into account, a smoker is much more likely to be successful in quitting," Dr Bott said.

"Another major point is that smokers should make themselves fully aware of the serious diseases caused by smoking, such as lung cancer.

"Awareness of the health consequences of smoking is a major deterrent.

"Doctors are a group of people most acquainted with these risks and only six per cent of Australian doctors smoke.

"If the public can be as well-informed about the health risks of smoking, we could genuinely hope to reduce smoking in the community to a similar level.

"That is why public education programs like the Quit campaign are so important."

Mr Wilson said this year's Quit Week would include a range of activities including community education initiatives to encourage and support smokers in their attempts to quit, a newsletter for health professionals to assist them in helping smokers to quit and resources for workplaces organising smoke-free policies and workplace quit teams.