A new approach will be taken to warning youngsters away from tobacco as the number of teenage smokers in Malta continues to rise.
According to a study by the World Health Organisation, the number of 15-year-old boys who smoke has gone up to 40.2 per cent in 2006 from 37.6 per cent in 2001/2002.
WHO's latest Health Behaviour in School-age Children study shows an even sharper rise among girls of the same age, from 40.1 to 45.4 per cent.
Given these figures, the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Department will be working harder to encourage young people not to light up, at an age when the harmful effects are accentuated because their bodies are still developing.
"When dealing with young people, explaining the health hazards of smoking is not sufficient as they tend to live in the present without worrying about their health when they turn 50," explained department head Charmaine Gauci.
"So, apart from educating them about the health risks, the campaign will be aimed at teaching them to say 'no', that there are better things than smoking in life, that smoking is not cool but makes you stink and drains your cash."
As from this week, the department will be airing a new non-smoking advert on local television and in cinemas, targeting adolescents.
The advert shows a group of friends having a good time, then one young lady leaves the group to smoke a cigarette outside. When she returns, her boyfriend cringes at her kiss, she has lost track of her friends' conversation and her best friend tells her not to ruin her beauty by smoking.
The department will also encourage young people to take up a sport since this promotes a sense of discipline. Young girls, who may take up smoking to lose weight, will be taught healthier ways to do so and expectant mothers who stop smoking during their pregnancy will be encouraged to keep away from tobacco beyond birth.
Health Director General Ray Busuttil said that for this campaign to be successful it was also important to transmit a sense of responsibility to the owners of establishments that allow minors (under 18) to purchase cigarettes illegally. It was also important to enforce the laws that prohibit smoking inside establishments.
Each year some 5.4 million people - or one person every six seconds - dies from causes directly connected to smoking. In Malta, where 25 per cent of the population are smokers, 10 per cent of deaths are connected to smoking. In 2006 a total of 381 people died due to causes directly related to smoking - at least one person a day.
"The increasing rate of young and adolescent smokers throughout the world and in Malta suggests that this mortality rate will not cease," said Dr Busuttil.
A ban on smoking in public places came into force in 2005 and the advertising of cigarettes has been made illegal. Now the department is working on pictorials for cigarette packets, he said.
Another initiative of the department is the Quit and Win competition that encourages smokers to stop smoking and win prizes, said Anne Buttigieg, senior occupational therapist at the department.
The winners of the Quit and Win 2008 initiative, the eight competition of its sort held in Malta, were: Victor Micallef who won a cruise by Hamilton travel, Mary Rose Camilleri who won a trip to Vienna by NiQuitin CQ, and Joanne Pace who won a treadmill offered by Tip Top.
They all expressed their satisfaction at quitting the habit and all felt that, while they had long wanted to stop, the drive to win during the competition and their children's complaints sealed the deal.