More willing to quit smoking

Participants in this year's Quit And Win campaign have risen by a third over 2005, with a total of 1,560 people taking part.

Five of the participants won a prize for their efforts.

Paul Micallef, a teacher who managed to quit smoking for a month and won a cruise for four in the process, yesterday stressed the importance of anti-smoking campaigns in schools.

Together with the four other winners - Loreta Camilleri, Emanuel Borg Caruana, John Attard and Josephine Mule Stagno - Mr Micallef was yesterday presented with his hard-earned prize.

A total of 859 men and 684 women, out of the 1,543 valid entries, took part in the local competition, which was also held in 89 different countries. Malta has been taking part in the global competition since 1994.

The majority of participants, almost 45 per cent, smoked between 11 and 20 cigarettes a day. Just over 30 per cent had smoked for up to 10 years, 27.7 per cent for between 11 and 20 years and 21.7 per cent for between 21 and 30 years. One participant had smoked for between 61 and 70 years and 17 had been smoking for between 51 and 60 years.

More than half the participants had tried to quit smoking between one and five times, the Health Promotion Department's statistics showed. Twelve of the participants had tried to stop more than 10 times. Health Promotion Department head Mario Spiteri said the campaign helps to raise awareness about the harmful effects of smoking. The prizes also serve as an incentive for smokers to quit.

Although over the years the percentage of smoking men has decreased, from 40 per cent of the male population some 25 years ago to 20 per cent today, the opposite has happened in the case of women, Dr Spiteri said. Previous Quit And Win campaigns have shown that between 10 and 30 per cent of participants stayed completely smoke-free for a whole year after taking part in the competition.