On May 31st, the Israel Cancer Association along with the World Health Organization (WHO), marked World No Tobacco Day, a global awareness day in the fight against tobacco and nicotine use aimed at emphasizing the health risks associated with smoking and the legislation measures found efficient in reducing the number of smokers.
According to the organization, smoking is responsible for about 8 million deaths per year, of which about 1 million die of passive smoking. About 8,000 people die each year in Israel from the hazards of smoking, of which 800 have never smoked but were exposed to this hazard. Smokers are not the only victims of smoking-related cancer morbidity. Exposing non-smokers to passive smoking at home or in public places increases the risk of lung cancer.
Moshe Bar Haim, ICA Director General: "With cumulative scientific data about smoking, one would expect a budgeted national program for smoking prevention in Israel, and a decrease in the number of smokers. Unfortunately, the tobacco and e-cigarette companies are hard at work, and this lethal habit is still causing physical and mental addiction, as almost every hour, a person dies of the hazards of smoking in Israel. Alongside this, we are deeply concerned by e-cigarette epidemic among youth, a dangerous, addictive smoking product, which is a gateway into the world of smoking. We must act fiercely to eradicate this phenomenon, by banning the sale of disposable e-cigarettes and flavored smoking devices immediately."
The annual competition on smoking prevention named after the late Dr. Marcus, is held annually between schools across the country, thanks to a collaboration between the ICA, SHEFI (the Education Ministry's Psychological Services), the Ministry of Health and the Israel Lung Association. The event was held at Beit Mati and concluded a busy year of activity
A designated digital site was created especially for the competition, in which all competing videos and posters were uploaded along with extensive information by SHEFI and the ICA. This event brought to a close rich year of activity in schools on the topic of smoking prevention.
The ICA held a competition for poster design on e-cigarettes. The public was asked to design an original poster using AI technology. The first prize winner was Michal Herman Eisenstein.
The ICA produced a new campaign against e-cigarettes featuring actresses Ruslana Rudina and Ravid Ronen. The creative video produced by Zivlin Ltd., illustrates the hazards hidden in using e-cigarettes. The campaign was published on Tik Tok and garnered more than 2.1 million views, and about 17,000 likes.
Due to the increase the use of e-cigarettes among youth and teens' the ICA published a new campaign on Tik Tok, presented by Danny Boller (Ask Danny) on a voluntary basis. The campaign dealt with the hazards of e-cigarettes (vaping) in a humoristic way and was produced by voluntarily by 'Zivlin Ltd.' The campaign garnered 1.6 million views, more than 9,000 shares and 32,000 likes.
The public information department produced ads that made into signage distributed in malls, streets and parks, as well as GIF clips for media outlets. The signs were widely distributed in public places.
A new ICA smoking cessation video for the Arab sector calls on smokers to use the momentum abstinence during the Ramadan period to fully quit smoking. The campaign garnered about 1.5 million views. Previous campaigns in Hebrew and Arabic also aired on digital media.
As part of our activity in the coalition of organizations fighting against smoking, founded by the ICA and Dr. Milka Donchin, Chair of the Israel National Network of Healthy Cities, and with assistance from MK Osher Shkalim, a conference day was planned and produced in the Knesset's committees on smoking prevention. The conference was attended by Knesset members, professionals and members of coalition of organizations for smoking prevention, and led by ICA's Health Promotion Specialist, Ira Tolchin. The conference dealt with ways to achieve a smoking-free Israel and in the shared responsibility for achieving a smoking-free Israel.