Celebrating Success With Tobacco Reduction
People working to reduce smoking in Nova Scotia used today, World No Tobacco Day, to announce that a provincial conference this week will celebrate the success of the province's tobacco strategy.
The two-day conference, titled Nova Scotia Communities Taking Action, will be held in Antigonish on Thursday, June 3 and Friday, June 4. It was during the first Communities Taking Action conference -- in Clementsport on Oct. 11, 2002 -- that Nova Scotia launched its tobacco strategy.
"We're making great progress with our strategy and we're already seeing results, with a five per cent drop in our smoking rate since 2001," said Health Promotion Minister Rodney MacDonald. "We have many people to thank for this success. The strategy was developed and put into action by a wide variety of community partners. It is a model for our work in many other areas of health promotion."
Nova Scotia's tobacco strategy includes a combination of legislation, tax increases, community-based action, youth prevention, social marketing, and help for people to quit smoking.
A similar approach in California, one of the world's leaders in tobacco reduction, has resulted in that state's smoking rate dropping to historic lows. Between 1984 and 2003, California's adult smoking rate dropped from 26 per cent to 16 per cent. This decline in smoking coincided with a 14 per cent decrease in lung cancer rates.
Dr. Dileep Bal, chief of the cancer control branch for the California Department of Health Services, is the keynote speaker at the Nova Scotia conference. He will talk about the California experience, share research and best practices and offer advice and encouragement to the individuals and groups attending.
The decline in California's smoking and lung cancer rates can be attributed to the state's comprehensive approach to tobacco control, which includes in-your-face mass media campaigns, funding for local and state-wide programs, smoke-free laws, cessation programs, and holding the tobacco industry accountable by aggressively targeting their marketing practices.
"California's decline in smoking is one of the state's greatest public health achievements. We're now actually seeing long-term results in the form of reduced lung cancer rates," said Dr. Bal. "Nova Scotia is taking a similar approach with its tobacco strategy and I encourage the province to continue these efforts to achieve similar results."
The conference will provide an opportunity for all those involved in tobacco reduction efforts to take stock of their achievements and to celebrate success. It will also be a forum for sharing information about what works and what needs to be done next in Nova Scotia.
"We're very happy with what we've achieved in just two years," said Nancy Hoddinott, tobacco manager with the Office of Health Promotion and conference co-chair. "We need to continually remind ourselves how far we've come and where we need to go. Reducing tobacco use in Nova Scotia will only happen through long-term, sustained efforts and funding, and through co-ordinated community action and partnerships. We have a lot more to do and we've built a very solid foundation."
The provincial tobacco conference is being planned and sponsored by a partnership of organizations including the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Nova Scotia; Cancer Care Nova Scotia; Canadian Cancer Society -- Nova Scotia Division; Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia; the Nova Scotia Dental Association; Health Canada; Addiction Services and Public Health Services; Canadian Council for Tobacco Control; Doctors Nova Scotia; and the Nova Scotia Office of Health Promotion.