- Anti-tobacco day celebration (31 st may) in different colleges of the city
Objectives
- Increase awareness within the broader public about the impact of tobacco use and exposure to second hand smoke has on general health.
- Provide opportunities for the public, governments and others to make commitments to promote general health by protecting people from use of tobacco products.
- The event was intended to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and encourage and adopt effective policies to reduce smoking and the use of other tobacco products.
- Help for people who choose to quit tobacco.
The context
- Various lectures and Ppt presentations organized specially focused on youth. The important intervention that we as a professional can provide is the advice to stop smoking and providing professional support to do so.
- According to WHO, tobacco use kills more than 7 million people around the world each year. And that number is predicted to grow unless anti-tobacco actions are increased.it causes many types of cancer, as well as heart diseases, stroke, lung diseases, and other health problems.
Practice
- We the department of dentistry of VPMC and different colleges in the city jointly hosted programs to create awareness about tobacco use and its adverse effects on general health .
- By organizing poster competition. Essay competition, elocution competition for students of different schools and colleges. Various PPT presentations were conducted on bad effects of tobacco habits on dental and general health. Demonstrations on how to maintain oral hygiene were given. And also clinical oral examinations were conducted for detection of precancerous and cancerous lesions amongst adult populations.
- Tribal school children were also examined for oral and dental health and distributed toothpaste and toothbrushes.to make them aware about the correct and scientific brushing techniques.
- Adiwasi population was motivated to visit doctors for any oral and dental problems instead of bhagats and mantriks.
- Oral health oath was given to school children in urban and rural schools. By this innovative method we could deliver a very impactful message to children regarding the maintenance of oral health. And prevention of various oral diseases.
- Healthy teeth contest was conducted for school children and winners were felicitated with gifts and certificates. These activities helped us to create awareness regarding oral and general health.
- Those who needed help to quit the habits of tobacco chewing and smoking were counselled frequently by our team of “tobacco cessation clinic”.
Evidence of success
- Our tobacco cessation clinic team motivates tobacco addicts by showing them flipcharts and posters ,explaining various life threatening adverse effects ,and also conducting one to one and one to group counseling sessions. Regular follow ups helps relapse prevention.
- By conducting such activities we could motivate around 58 people quit the habits chewing tobacco and smoking.
- We also celebrate the sobriety birthday of tobacco addicts on intervals of 6 months,12 months and 2 years.