Quit Smoking Contest Launched in Philippines

Recently, according to a report from The Philippine Star, the Department of Health in the Philippines has announced a contest targeting cigarette and e-cigarette users, aimed at encouraging smoking cessation. The event will run until October 31.

Protecting the health of the people.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa expressed his satisfaction with the collaboration between the Philippine Lung Center and the Philippine Smoke-Free and Health Association (ASH). They are working together to address these issues with the aim of safeguarding the health of the people.

Hebosa further added:

We encourage the public and private health advocates to strictly adhere to the regulations of the e-cigarette law, implementing our smoke-free and e-cigarette-free provisions, in order to enable us to live in a healthier and cleaner environment.

According to the event regulations, only former smokers who have quit smoking in July 2022 or have not smoked in the past six months are eligible to participate in the competition.

Maricar Limpin, the Executive Director of ASH, stated at a press conference, "We have chosen July 2022 as the starting point because during that period, the country also offers smoking cessation services.

The winners will be determined through a lottery on November 22nd, and there will be three winners from different locations - Luzon Island, the Visayas Islands, and Mindanao Island.

Each person will receive a bonus of 5,000 pesos. Additionally, each participating region will be awarded a consolation prize of 1,000 pesos.

According to Lin Ping, local government units, health workers, and the staff supporting participants in the smoking cessation program that have registered at least 100 smokers will be rewarded.

She pointed out that if participants can honestly declare that they have quit smoking for at least six months or longer, and commit to continue abstaining from smoking throughout the entire competition period, then they will win the contest.

Registering E-cigarette Patients and Their Symptoms

Meanwhile, according to a pulmonologist, e-cigarettes may be more harmful than smoking.

She added,

Compared to smoking traditional cigarettes or tobacco, vaping e-cigarettes is found to be more harmful due to the absence of immediate respiratory and other pulmonary issues associated with it.

Lin Ping stated that it is necessary to register e-cigarette patients and their symptoms because most of the records regarding illnesses related to e-cigarettes are anecdotal in nature.

She pointed out that there are currently no records regarding the impact of e-cigarettes. However, the Philippine College of Chest Physicians will start collecting these cases and their detailed information.

Reference:

[1] Stop and Gain: DOH launches quit smoking contest