NEWS
ONE
MILLION
REASONS...
Stoptober 2018 is to be huge as annual
public health campaign has helped one
million smokers quit and counting.
By Gordon Stribling
The 2018 Stoptober campaign has
launched and vaping is set to play a
significant role for a second year running. In 2017-18, two-thirds of smokers who
used a combination of e-cigarettes and
stop-smoking services successfully quit.
Last year saw Public Health England
(PHE) fully endorse e-cigarettes in its
Stoptober TV ad for the first time after
the devices proved hugely popular the
previous year. As well as NHS stop smoking services,
people quitting with e-cigarettes are being
encouraged to seek expert advice from
their local vape shop.
The annual campaign encourages
smokers to attempt to quit with support,
online tools and by switching to safer
nicotine products such as e-cigarettes.
Evidence shows that by stopping smoking
for 28 days, smokers are five times more
likely to quit for good.
PHE hopes to trigger as many quit
attempts as possible by providing support
and a broad range of products to appeal
to a diverse smoking population.
To date, Stoptober has encouraged over
one million smokers to attempt to quit.
PHE notes that nearly 60 percent of
smokers attempt to quit cold-turkey
without assistance despite this being the
least-effective method.
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Philippa Simons, communications officer
for PHE, said: “Our partnership with
the IBVTA will be continuing this year
and vape shops will be involved with
that partnership. We’re also offering a
personal quit plan and e-cigarettes will be
one of the options presented.”
Smokers will also be encouraged to use
IBVTA’s ‘Find a Vape Shop’ tool.
As with previous years, smokers are being
encouraged to access the many other
resources offered by PHE to increase
their chances of quitting for good, such as
those available on the Stoptober website
and across social media, as well as an
app, daily emails and peer support on
Stoptober’s Facebook page.
For more on
Stoptober
see page
54-56