Public health experts across Merseyside and Cheshire are calling on smokers across the region to quit smoking for good this month as part of Stoptober.
Liverpool City Council is supporting the campaign after previously successful years, hoping to show smokers they don’t have to take on the challenge of quitting alone. The campaign’s message spreads no matter how many times you’ve tried before, now is the perfect time to quit.
Recent research from Champs Public Health, a partnership between all the Public Health directors on Merseyside, have found 50% of smokers living in Merseyside say they really want to quit, with 21% saying they know they should.
Dr Sarah McNulty, Director of Public Health at Alder Hey Hospital and Lead Director of All Together Smokefree programme, said: ‘‘Smoking across Cheshire and Merseyside continues to be a major cause of ill health and early death, and that’s why campaigns like Stoptober are so important.’’
More than 5 million adults in the UK still smoke, with 215,000 of them in Cheshire and Merseyside alone. However, these smoking rates are dropping. Liverpool has a ‘smoke-free by 2030’ plan set up by the city council to continue dropping these statistics.
Hannah Ingham, spokesperson for Champs, told Mersey News Live: ‘‘Many young people continue to take up smoking each year and many young people vape, this is partly because these products have been aggressively marketed towards them. Both can trap young people into a lifetime of addiction.”
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently going through parliament. This is aiming to prevent young people from taking up smoking by progressively raising the age of sale for cigarettes each year. This Bill also includes measures to curb youth vaping by restricting the sale and advertising of vapes.
‘‘Stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do for your health, and we are here to support everyone across Cheshire and Merseyside to quit for good’’, Ms Ingham added.
Smokefree Liverpool has partnered with the campaign. It offers a wide range of free support options for those looking to quit their habits. Some of these include face-to-face or telephone support with trained advisors, free nicotine replacement therapy and access to a dedicated quit smoking app.
The month-long campaign stems from research which shows quitting for 28 days makes you five times more likely to quit for good, with the benefits starting within 20 minutes of not smoking.
The campaign will feature local people’s real-life stories about their lives smoking, with their stories being shared across social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram targeting communities affected by smoking harm and encouraging more people to join the nations challenge.
