The ‘Every Cigarette Is Doing You Damage’ campaign is continuing in Australia

One of the world’s most successful anti-smoking campaigns which was initiated in Australia titled “Every Cigarette Is Doing You Damage” has been credited with saving an estimated 60,000 lives as well as preventing 10,000 lung cancer cases and 10,000 heart attacks. Overall in Australia it is reckoned that almost 200,000 people quit smoking as a result of these advertisements

Professor Susan Hurley who came up with the statistics says that not only was the campaign effective but it in fact saved millions of dollars in health care savings. The anti-smoking campaign which kicked off over ten years ago has estimated to have cost around $9 million however it is likely that the health care savings will be in the region of $750 million dollars.

The ‘Every Cigarette Is Doing You Damage’ campaign is continuing in Australia and is being beamed on television screens all over the country as well as being printed on all cigarette packets. The campaign at the moment is focusing on the damage that cigarette smoking does to arteries and how it clogs them up and makes smokers four times more likely to suffer from heart attacks than non-smokers.

At Ukmedix News we have been harping on about the fact that governments need to do more to prevent people smoking in their countries. Health ministers must not look at money spent on smoking cessation campaigns as money wasted but they should look at it as an investment for the country which will produce huge financial returns in the short, medium and long term.

Governments who are strapped for cash should issue bonds to raise money for smoking cessation campaigns because they now have the clearest evidence yet in Australia of the huge savings that can be made in the healthcare system due to reduced rates of smoking.

Not only is money spent on advertising effective but banning smoking in public places, the free issue of smoking cessation medications such as Champix and the offering of counselling for people quitting has always shown to be work in reducing the numbers of smokers.