(October 14th, 2016, Manila, the Philippines and New York, USA) – The Department of Health (DOH), together with Vital Strategies, today launches a powerful national anti-tobacco campaign that highlights the health and economic harms of smoking to families. The campaign, called “Protect Your Family, Stop Smoking!” starts airing on national television and regional radio channels from today. It will also run on electronic billboards and on YouTube, with a social media campaign to support the advocacy. Vital Strategies collaborated with DOH on the design and implementation of the campaign, which is designed to encourage quitting.
The campaign is centered around a powerful public service announcement (PSA), which graphically shows a father, bed-ridden by tobacco-related illness, whose daughter has had to leave education to help support her family. The family’s anguish is evident, from the father’s physical pain and emotional guilt to the daughter’s loss of her happy, successful school days. She wonders why her father used tobacco, asking “What will happen to me? What will happen to my future?” The PSA closes with a call to action: “Love yourself, love your family, stop smoking!”
“I am confident that the message of this campaign will hit home with many parents, as we all know that smoking is a deadly addiction that claims 240 lives a day in the Philippines. It is part of the overall substance abuse menace facing Philippine society today. We are making progress in helping youth and their families know more about the ill effects of tobacco, and their right to health. But with more than 17 million Filipinos still addicted to tobacco use, there’s more work to be done to reduce the health and economic harms of tobacco. We are confident that this campaign, with its clear message targeted at Filipino families, will encourage more people to try to quit smoking tobacco,” said Secretary of Health, Dr Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial.
Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President, Policy and Communications, Vital Strategies, commented: “The Philippines’ Sin Taxes Law is helping to reduce smoking prevalence, but more than one-fifth of adults continue to use tobacco daily and youth smoking rates remain worryingly high – so there is a real need to implement evidence-based policies, like smoking bans and anti-tobacco mass media campaigns, that are effective in reducing smoking.
Mullin continued: “We congratulate the Department of Health on the launch of this powerful new campaign. It will appeal to all mothers and fathers who want the best for their children, and increase awareness of the economic harms of tobacco use, and how tobacco-related disease can tear families apart. We are delighted to have supported DOH in the design and implementation of this campaign, knowing that it will benefit the health of all Filipinos, and encourage the government to move towards full implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.”
“This lifesaving anti-tobacco ad is very timely, as President Rodrigo Duterte moves towards implementing his clear vision of the Philippines’ tobacco control priorities. This includes comprehensive smokefree laws and the full implementation of graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging from November 4th, 2016. Let us join forces so we can move forward to a smoke-free Philippines,” concluded Dr. Ubial.
To view the PSA, please visit https://youtu.be/01D58b7C0y0 or the DOH Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OfficialDOHgov The PSAs and stills and transcripts from the PSAs are available upon request.
The Burden Of Tobacco Use In The Philippines
The Department of Health (DOH) has identified tobacco as the primary risk factor in the Philippines for a range of non-communicable diseases. This costs the Philippines’ economy more than USD3.95 billion (Php188 billion) (Dans et al., 2012) in health care costs and productivity losses.
According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, the Philippines (GATS), more than 17 million adult Filipinos smoke cigarettes. Almost half of adult males and 9 percent (2.8 million) of adult females are current smokers. Moreover, 23 percent of Filipino adults – 38 percent of men and 7 percent of women – are daily tobacco smokers. The Tobacco Atlas notes that tobacco-related cases account for 19.6 percent of adult male deaths and 9.4 percent of adult female deaths – higher than the average in other middle-income countries. It is estimated that more than 71,850 Filipinos – eight people every hour – are killed by tobacco-related diseases every year. The Philippine Cancer Society estimates that around 3,000 non-smoking adult Filipinos die every year of lung cancer as a result of inhaling second-hand smoke.
Anti-tobacco mass media campaigns are one of the World Health Organization’s MPOWER (W=WARN) strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. MPOWER strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which Vital Strategies is a principal partner. In the Philippines, these strategies are implemented under the leadership of the Department of Health.