Media Centre

2022.04.06

The 12th “Quit to Win” Smoke-free Community Campaign successfully accomplished and widely spread smoke-free message

Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) has organized the “Quit to Win” Smoke-free Community Campaign since 2009. The Campaign motivates smokers to quit and promotes the smoke-free lifestyle through a smoking cessation contest and a series of district-based smoke-free promotion activities, as well as media promotion, counseling, and scientific research on smoking cessation. In 2021-2022, COSH organized the 12th “Quit to Win” Smoke-free Community Campaign with continuous support from 18 District Councils and collaboration with 16 district working partners. Diversified smoke-free promotion activities were conducted to spread the smoke-free message and encourage smoking cessation. Also, the Campaign was supported by more than 50 organizations, including government department, smoking cessation partners, district health centres, as well as trade associations and companies from catering, construction, transportation and housing management industries. Smoke-free culture was enhanced in different sectors and levels of society though their active engagement.

During June to October 2021, COSH organized over 70 recruitments and promotion activities, successfully recruited over 1,450 smokers into the contest and make a quit attempt. In addition, distinctive referral and recruitment arrangements have been conducted through different channels. For example, Mega Recruitment Days for Smoking Cessation were held in October 2021 to provide one-stop-shop smoking cessation counselling and support services, in collaboration with the smoking cessation service organizations. Meanwhile, smoking inmates were referred from “Correctional Services Department Referral Scheme” and over 100 construction workers were recruited at construction sites arranged by supporting organizations from construction sectors. Together with over 60 smoke-free promotion activities organized by district working partners, the Campaign spread the smoke-free messages to over 150,000 members of public.

All participants were followed up by the counselors of School of Nursing and School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong. The counselors kept track of participants’ quit status, provided quit advice and arranged referral to smoking cessation service providers for participants. Information of smoking cessation and smoking hazards were shared through regular instant messages and reminders to encourage smokers to kick the habit and reduce cigarette consumption. Successful quitters from the previous Contests were invited to take part as “smoking cessation peer supporters”, who shared quit tips and resolved with some participants during the cessation process. Participants whose quit status was successfully validated at 3-month and 6-month follow-ups have been awarded HK$500 cash voucher and had chance to win fabulous prize of supermarket coupons or electronic appliance vouchers.

Winners of the “Quit to Win” Contest should share their experiences and tips of smoking cessation in the publicity activities, in order to motivate more smokers to kick the habit. The winners of the 12th “Quit to Win” Contest are Mr CHOI Kwok-wai (champion), Mr HUNG Wing-kin (first runner-up) and Mr WAI San-yuen (second runner-up).

The Champion, Mr CHOI Kwok-wai is an artist who had smoked for over 20 years. Smoking was common in the entertainment industry and the crew used to smoke during the break of filming. Mr CHOI was tempted to light up his first cigarette at 22 years old by colleagues, and got addicted since then. He consumed a pack of cigarette daily. Until last year, he found that it was the perfect moment for kicking the habit during the COVID-19 pandemic. He recalled, “Smoking is not just harmful to health but also a huge cost of living. Smokers are at high risk to take off the mask and smoke. So why should I keep this harmful habit?” At first, Mr CHOI wrongly used heated tobacco products (HTPs) to divert attention. However, he found that HTPs also posed health problems like sore throat, difficult breathing and cough, etc. He stopped using HTPs immediately and adopted proper methods to quit. He also used the Tangle provided by the Contest to divert attention and get over the urge of smoking. Finally, Mr CHOI successfully overcame insomnia and other withdrawal symptoms after three weeks. Having quitted smoking, he regains fresh breath, taste and smell. He is pleased that his smoking colleagues showed support to him. He is ecstatic to share his quit experience with friends and motivate others to quit.

First runner-up Mr HUNG Wing-kin tried his first cigarette in secondary school and became an occasional smoker in gathering with friends. He perceived his cigarette consumption was not heavy, and hence quit smoking was not necessary. Introduced by friends and facing stress of post-graduation employment, he started to smoke e-cigarettes and turned into a frequent user while smoking conventional cigarettes at the same time. He described e-cigarettes as “sugar-coated poison” with novel design, diverse flavors, handy and convenient device. It made him quickly addicted and he had to consume e-cigarettes with nicotine as much as 2-3 packs of cigarettes. Use of e-cigarettes caused him more frequent asthma and coughing, which embarrassed him during the COVID-19 epidemic. Having seen the online promotion video and worried about his own health, Mr HUNG made up his mind to quit all kinds of smoking products and started with gradual reduction of e-cigarette intake. To resist craving and temptation, he hid all e-cigarette devices. When there was crave for smoking, he got over it by drinking water and eating snacks. After stopping smoking, Mr HUNG discarded all e-cigarette devices and juice. He becomes healthier and feels more energetic with smooth breath. He has no more sore throat and coughing due to the irritation of e-cigarettes.

Second runner-up, Mr WAI San-yuen had smoked for 15 years. As a trading and logistics practitioner, he used to smoke with colleagues at rest for refreshment during the overnight shift. He had been a dual user of cigarette and conventional cigarettes because e-cigarette is convenient and cheaper to use. However, he always had headaches in the half year time of e-cigarette use and therefore returned to an exclusive cigarette smoker. To avoid the hazards of secondhand smoke to family, he only smoked in kitchen at home. But his wife still complained and did not allow him to have intimate contact with their son because of thirdhand smoke. To build a smoke-free environment for his son, he eventually determined to quit and stopped smoking one week after enrolment. Through the referral from the Contest, he received appropriate services to quit, such as nicotine replacement therapy. Free from secondhand and third-hand smoke, Mr WAI has no more hesitation in hugging his son and no more quarrels with his wife. He is delighted that he has better family relationship, improves his health, develops running habit and saves a lot of money after adopting a smoke-free life. He also shares his experience and successfully motivated colleagues to give up smoking together.

The number of participants for the Campaign reached a record high under COVID-19 pandemic. It indicates that people have a higher sense of healthy living and greater motivation to abstain from smoking. The 13th “Quit to Win” will be launched in June 2022. Please check the details of the contest and cessation from the Campaign website, and motivate more smokers to adopt a smoke-free healthy lifestyle.

COSH congratulated all the successful quitters and their beloved family to enjoy smoke-free healthy lifestyle.

COSH congratulated all the successful quitters and their beloved family to enjoy smoke-free healthy lifestyle.

The winners of 12th “Quit to Win” Contest (from left) Mr HUNG Wing-kin (first runner-up), Mr CHOI Kwok-wai (champion) and Mr WAI San-yuen (second runner-up) shared their inspiring quit stories and tips.

The winners of 12th “Quit to Win” Contest (from left) Mr HUNG Wing-kin (first runner-up), Mr CHOI Kwok-wai (champion) and Mr WAI San-yuen (second runner-up) shared their inspiring quit stories and tips.