MALAY COMMUNITY RALLIES BEHIND HPB’S NATIONWIDE SMOKE-FREE MOVEMENT
This follows a rising national smoking prevalence, with the Malay community having the highest prevalence of smokers.
Singapore, 14 September 2012: To support Singapore’s nationwide Smoke-Free Movement, the Malay community is leveraging the Tobacco Control Ecosystem established by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) to help Malay Muslim smokers break the habit.
2. According to the National Health Survey (NHS) 2010, the smoking prevalence for the Malay community increased from about 18 per cent in 2004 to nearly 27 per cent in 2010, which was significantly higher than the national prevalence of about 14 per cent.
3. To encourage more smokers within the Malay community to quit smoking, HPB started working with the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), Malay grassroots organisations such as Malay Activity Executive Committees (MAECs) and mosques, as an extension of its Tobacco Control Ecosystem.
4. Al-Falah Mosque, Al-Istiqamah Mosque, Kampung Siglap Mosque, Ar-Raudhah Mosque and Darul Makmur Mosque have since joined HPB in its nationwide Smoke-free Movement, helping congregants quit through a structured smoking cessation programme comprising HPB’s toll-free phone counselling service QuitLine, on-site group or individual counselling, talks and workshops.
5. As these mosques are also voluntarily smoke-free, HPB is conferring upon them the Blue Ribbon Award, which recognises active tobacco control advocates with voluntary smoke-free zones.
6. Such outreach efforts to Malay Muslim smokers in the community emphasises HPB’s Health Ambassador Network’s motto of ‘Staying Healthy, Inspiring Others’. To equip Health Ambassadors with the knowledge and skills to help smokers quit successfully, HPB is running a series of courses to train them as Quit Buddies, after which they will have the opportunity to work with smokers via QuitLine, or be trained further to become Quit Smoking Consultants.
7. Nearly 100 Health Ambassadors who have indicated an interest to be Quit Buddies will graduate from HPB’s training programme by March 2013.
8. With the increase in touch points and demand for smoking cessation services, QuitLine has stepped up to take on a new and central role in the island-wide Tobacco Control Ecosystem. Instead of just being another touch point for cessation services, it is now the first line of support for smokers in the community.
9. This means that all smokers recruited by HPB or partners will be referred to QuitLine, who will proactively initiate contact and follow up with customised cessation counselling via the telephone. Smokers who are assessed to require more intensive face-to-face support will then be directed to community touch points including pharmacies and mosques.
10. For example, following HPB’s outreach efforts in July and August, the MAECs in Nee Soon GRC will be referring smokers to QuitLine for phone counselling, after which QuitLine will direct smokers who need face-to-face counselling to the Darul Makmur Mosque located at Nee Soon East.
11. Said Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Transport: “Support within a community increases the likelihood that a smoker will quit for good, which is why MUIS, Malay grassroots organisations and mosques are effective touch points in HPB’s Tobacco Control Ecosystem. Due to the success of past antismoking drives in Ramadan, the Malay community again partnered with HPB on similar efforts in July and August this year. After a series of roadshows helmed by HPB’s Health Ambassadors, more than 300 Malay Muslim smokers have expressed their commitment to quit and to embrace a tobacco-free lifestyle.”
12. Said Mr Ang Hak Seng, Chief Executive Officer, HPB: “More than 50 per cent of smokers wish to quit, but either put off doing so, or believe they can quit easily on their own. Smokers, however, have a higher chance of quitting successfully with community support, as revealed by the 20 per cent success rate of HPB’s community-based I Quit Movement, compared to the 10 per cent achieved by other anti-smoking efforts elsewhere in the world. Now that QuitLine is no longer just a hotline but also the first line of support for smokers in the community, cessation counsellors can proactively initiate contact to help them take that first step without any delay as well as support them at every step. HPB also gives assistance through the I Quit Club on Facebook, workplace smoking control programmes, and more than 150 convenient touch points.”
13. The expansion of smoking cessation touch points through collaboration with key partners such as mosques, MUIS and MAECs, as well as the continual education and ‘upskilling’ of Health Ambassadors are HPB’s strategies to ‘de-normalise’ smoking by creating a conducive and supportive smoke-free environment. These strategies complement other evidence-based measures such as legislative and fiscal schemes.