Smoke-free Teens committed to promoting smoke-free living in the community
Date:2018-3-25 22:08:23 Clicks:1079 【Font Size:
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Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) has been sparing no effort to educate the youngsters on smoking hazards and prevent them from taking up the first cigarette, as well as to nurture them to become future leaders to advance tobacco control in Hong Kong. The Smoke-free Teens Programme (formerly known as “Smoke-free Youth Ambassador Leadership Training Programme”) has been organized annually since 2012 to equip participants with knowledge on tobacco control and smoking hazards, and different skills through training camp and organization of various activities to promote smoke-free culture.
Over 250 youngsters, aged 14 to 18, from more than 20 secondary schools enrolled for the 2017-18 programme. They joined a 2-day-1-night leadership training camp last summer and applied their knowledge to initiate more than 120 innovative smoke-free activities in their schools and the community, reaching more than 32,000 citizens from all walks of life between September and December 2017. Smoke-free Teens became more proficient in organizing activities to reach the general public and well utilized the social media for publicity. Activities included inviting YouTubers to promote a smoke-free lifestyle through video, field trip to Japan and producing video to study the effectiveness of designated smoking areas on streets, and creating mascots and props for street promotion to educate the public on smoking hazards.
An award presentation ceremony was held today (16 March 2018) to commend the outstanding Smoke-free Teens for their efforts. Honourable guests included Dr Tina CHAN, Assistant Director of Health (Special Health Services), Mr KWAN Pak-keong, Chief Curriculum Development Officer (Moral, Civic and National Education), Education Bureau, Prof LAM Tai-hing, BBS, JP, Chair Professor of Community Medicine & Sir Robert Kotewall Professor in Public Health, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong and Mr Antonio KWONG, MH, COSH Chairman.
Dr Tina CHAN, Assistant Director of Health (Special Health Services) was glad that the Smoke-free Teens were equipped with knowledge on smoking hazards through the programme, and were committed to promoting smoke-free messages and encouraging smoking cessation.
Mr KWAN Pak-keong, Chief Curriculum Development Officer (Moral, Civic and National Education), Education Bureau said, “The Education Bureau values the health of students. One of the Seven Learning Goals of the education reform is to encourage students to build healthy lifestyles and say no to improper behaviours like smoking.”
Prof LAM Tai-hing, BBS, JP, Chair Professor of Community Medicine & Sir Robert Kotewall Professor in Public Health, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong said, “Teenagers play a major role in creating a smoke-free Hong Kong. They can urge for more stringent and effective tobacco control ordinances, policies and measures and help smokers quit smoking, so that children in Hong Kong can be brought up healthily in a smoke-free environment.”
“COSH was glad that the Smoke-free Teens made use of their creativity to hold different kinds of activities in the previous years. Their smoke-free knowledge and other skills were enhanced by the programme. This year, more participants got in touch with citizens from different sectors and age groups in the society, and utilized social media to encourage the public to develop a smoke-free healthy living.” Mr Antonio KWONG, COSH Chairman said.
The awards went to Lingnan Dr Chung Wing Kwong Memorial Secondary School (Champion), SKH Kei Hau Secondary School (1st runner-up) and Queen's College Old Boys' Association Secondary School (2nd runner-up). Besides, 7 teams were awarded as “Outstanding Smoke-free Team”.
The champion team shared their tips and experience in organizing a wide variety of creative activities under the theme of “Smoke-free, Good Life” which reached over 1,700 citizens. The essay competition in school was one of their successful activities, which encouraged a total of 930 students to write a letter to persuade smokers to quit smoking and more than one-third of them handed the letter to their relatives in person. Besides, representatives of the team conducted a field trip to Japan with their principal to study the effectiveness of designated smoking areas on streets, and exchanged views with other teammates and schoolmates through video and sharing session. They also produced a promotion video to remind schoolmates the harmful effects of smoking.
On the other hand, a territory-wide Smoke-free Carnival was organized in order to deliver smoke-free message to people from different sectors and at all ages. To promote smoke-free lifestyle to primary school students and teachers across the territory in an interesting way, they launched a smoke-free poster design competition with the “Thematic Network on Healthy Schools” of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. They also formed a hiking team to invite hikers to make a smoke-free pledge and encourage smoking family members and friends to kick the habit. They hoped that the public could understand a good life should start with a smoke-free lifestyle through these activities.
Over the past six years, around 2,000 Smoke-free Teens have been nurtured to take the leading role in tobacco control. COSH will organize the Smoke-free Teens Programme 2018-19 and invite local secondary schools, youth centres and uniform groups to join hands in encouraging a smoke-free living. For details of the programme, please visit www.smokefree.hk/smokefreeteens.