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May 31 marks the 25th anniversary of World No Tobacco Day, but doesthe day really inspire anyone to think about quitting smoking? Yesit does, according to a new study led by investigators from theInformatics Program at Children's Hospital Boston and Johns HopkinsBloomberg School of Public Health. For the study, the research teammonitored news promoting cessation and Internet search queriesindicative of cessation for six years in seven Latin Americannations. Cessation news coverage and Internet search queries forcessation peaked on World No Tobacco Day, increasing as much as 83percent and 84 percent compared to a typical day, respectively.Their findings appear in the May/June issue of Journal of Medical Internet Research. "After 25 years we didn't know if World No Tobacco Day was having asignificant public health impact," said John W. Ayers, lead authorof the study, Children's Hospital faculty member and recentgraduate of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Frankly, giventhe proliferation of awareness days, we were surprised to findlarge spikes pointing to interest in cessation." Senior analyst and Bloomberg doctoral candidate Benjamin Althousenoted, "We generally think of New Year's Day as the peak time whenmedia encourages quitting and smokers want to quit. World NoTobacco Day spikes, however, often outsized New Year's increases,like a second-chance quitting resolution." "People who live in low-and middle-income countries comprise amajority of the deaths from the global tobacco epidemic. Our studyprovides initial evidence that World No Tobacco Day encouragescessation awareness and cessation interest in these countries,"said Joanna Cohen, PhD, who leads the Bloomberg School's Institutefor Global Tobacco Control. "The majority of smokers do want toquit, and World No Tobacco Day is an effective reminder andinspiration." "Almost 6 million people die each year from tobacco including600,000 from second-hand smoke. Anything that helps people quittobacco is a life-saver," said Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO'sTobacco Free Initiative. "This research encourages all of us tocontinue the long fight against tobacco. But we should never letdown our guard against the tobacco industry's devious tactics toundo the public health gains we have been able to make." The authors note these increases have potentially large healthimplications. Jon-Patrick Allem, study coauthor and USC KeckMedicine affiliate said, "To otherwise achieve these kinds ofincreases, countries would have to raise cigarette taxes 2.8percent every year; this is likely undoable year in and year out,unlike the way World No Tobacco Day delivers. Additional References Citations. I am an expert from suspendedworkingplatform.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Mast Climbing Work Platform Manufacturer , Construction Hoist Elevator Manufacturer, Rope Suspended Platform,and more.
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