Stop smoking for Ramadan campaign starts
Community pharmacists in north London are involved in a “Stop Smoking for Ramadan” health promotion campaign.
They are handing out information leaflets and displaying posters as well
as directing customers to pharmacy-based smoking cessation services across
the borough in Camden.
A mobile health promotion bus, manned by smoking cessation advisers,
is also calling at two Camden mosques in the fortnight before, as well
as during, the month-long Muslim festival, which begins on 13 September
2007.
Bangladeshi men, who have the highest smoking rate in England — 40
per cent compared with 26 per cent for the general population — are
the main target of the campaign, although it is also hoping to reach
Somali men who smoke.
The campaign is being run by Camden Primary Care Trust and Greenlight
Pharmacy. Kate Giles, who is the community stop smoking co-ordinator
for Greenlight, said: “We have run the campaign before during Ramadan
but this is the first time we are taking it to mosques and the Imams
are promoting it at prayer time.”
Last year a similar campaign led to 249 people attending a stop smoking
talk at six mosques and 56 people made an appointment to see their pharmacist
to help them stop smoking. Another 48 people set themselves a date to
stop smoking and 54 per cent of them went on to quit.
Although the campaign is co-ordinated by Greenlight Pharmacy all 49 pharmacies
in Camden have been invited to take part.
The campaign was welcomed by Camden and Islington Local Pharmaceutical
Committee secretary David Kent, although he claimed that the LPC had
not been involved in the initiative. “It is a shame that the LPC
was not informed about the campaign and I feel if we had been involved
then a greater number of people would be helped.”
In a statement, Camden PCT said Greenlight pharmacy is funded to work
with the PCT as part of its provision of community stop smoking services,
through a Local Area Agreement. A spokeswoman said: “Greenlight
Pharmacy has a specific remit to support and develop services for targeted
black and minority ethnic groups in Camden and they will be contacting
local pharmacies as part of this work to let them know about the campaign.”
She
said that the scheme is not an enhanced service under the community pharmacy
contract. If it were, the LPC would have been involved.
She added: “The LAA service was tendered and applications
were invited from a plurality of providers (not all applicants were pharmacies).
The LPC could have responded on behalf of its contractors if it so wished.” |
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