More smoke cessation classes may be held

The EU anti-smoking roadshow currently in Malta is proving to be such a success the health authorities may have to increase the number of smoke cessation classes.

About 150 applications were picked up from a stand manned by Health Promotion Department personnel in Freedom Square, Valletta. Next to the stand is a two-storey inflatable structure, which forms part of the roadshow.

Organised by the European Union, the European-wide roadshow - Help For Life Without Tobacco - is touring the 25 member countries and focuses on smoking prevention, giving up, and the dangers of passive smoking.

The roadshow kicked off in Malta on Wednesday and a lot of interest was shown from the first day with about 100 applications for the cessation classes being picked up within hours.

Contacted yesterday Health Promotion Department director Mario Spiteri said the department might have to increase the number of classes being organised at the moment to accommodate all the applications. He said a good percentage of those who picked up an application would go on to apply and attend such smoke cessation classes.

Dr Spiteri said 2004 was a record year for smoking cessation classes attendance, adding that this was partly an effect of the introduction of the law prohibiting smoking in public places and the campaign on the harm of smoking and second-hand smoke exposure.

Stephen D'Alessandro, managing director of D'Alessandro and Associates Ltd, the local agents handling the campaign, said the organisers were not expecting such a response from the public because the Health Promotion Department has been working to urge people to stop smoking for quite some years. He said the increase in cigarette prices, as well as the inconvenience of having to go to a smoking area to have a cigarette, were probably helping people come forward to seek help to kick the habit.

The roadshow will continue until Sunday morning and application forms for the cessation courses can also be downloaded from the internet or collected from the Health Promotion Department, which can be contacted on 2123 1247.

Smoking is one of the major avoidable causes of death and between 1987 and last year there were more than 6,000 smoking-attributable deaths in Malta.

The 6,057 deaths included cancers of the trachea, bronchus and lungs, chronic bronchitis, emphysema (a chronic disease of the lungs) and ischaemic heart disease.

The number of smoking-attributable deaths increased from 289 in 1987 to 344 last year, the Department for Health Information said.

The highest number (371) of smoking-attributable deaths were recorded in 1999, when 253 men and 118 women died of conditions related to smoking.

There were more males than females who were registered to have died of smoking-related conditions. In fact, 4,201 men and 1,856 women died of smoking-attributable deaths in the 18 years under review.

The figures were based on the World Health Organisation's statistical model which shows that 90 per cent of trachea, bronchus and lung cancers, 75 per cent of chronic bronchitis and emphysema and 25 per cent of ischaemic heart disease were attributable to smoking.

Dr Spiteri said an average of one person a day died in Malta from smoking-related illnesses. Smoking among the older generations was on the decline and the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ESPAD) showed there was also a marginal decrease among young people. In fact, the 2003 survey showed that 52 per cent of 16-year-olds smoked while the 1999 study had put the figure at 56.6 per cent.

www.health.gov.mt/health_services/smokces.htm