Hand in Hand for a Smoke-free Childhood in China

10 Mar 2011     There are many reasons people struggle to quit smoking, one of the key reasons in China is social pressure. It is unknown how many Chinese adults started smoking because they could not turn down the repeated offer of cigarettes from friends or strangers, it is also unknown to what extent the low desire to quit smoking is the result of the need to remain a regular or ‘social’ smoker.   According to Report on Chronic Disease in China, a document released by the Ministry of Health in 2006, there were 350 million smokers and 540 million passive smokers in China, 50 million of them were teenagers with a rising trend of teenagers below 10 years old becoming smokers. To address the issue of increasing child smokers in China and to promote a smoke-free childhood, Pfizer China collaborated with the Beijing Bureau of Health to conduct a “Stay healthy by not smoking –tobacco control in school by using speaking book” program on February 21, 2011. The book, Stay Healthy by Not Smoking, has a soundtrack that corresponds to the text and illustrations, and describes the health benefits of not smoking from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy, Xiao Ming.  The story encourages children to stay healthy by not smoking, and to play an active role in protecting themselves from second-hand smoke by creating a smoke-free environment in their schools and families.  The smoke-free childhood program reached around 8,000 students from 15 primary schools in Beijing, and also the family members of the students. The program comprehensively trained teachers at the schools in addition to reaching out to students.  The trained teachers will later conduct health education activities with students by using the “speaking book,” which was developed by Pfizer in close collaboration with the World Medical Association, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, and the Chinese Medical Doctor Association. After school, the students will bring the speaking book home to read with their family members. Through bonding with their parents, the program aims to influence the adult smoking population as well. Pfizer China started the Smoke-free Childhood program in 2010 and the program proved successful in raising disease awareness with 81.3% of parents responding they would try to build a smoke-free environment for their children at home, and 65.8% of the students showing commitment to encourage their parents to seek professional support if needed.