The Women Against Smoking Program
The Institute for Family Health (IFH) was awarded the grand for the Pfizer Foundation under Faces of the Future: Smoking Prevention and Cessation in Women Grant Program and will launch the “Women Against Smoking” project in Khanti-Masiysk Autonomous Okrug.
Worldwide, about nine percent of women are smokers – a number expected to rise to 20 percent by 2025. Furthermore, women are the majority of “involuntary smokers” and 64% of all deaths due to secondhand smoke (SMS) were among women in 2004. Russia has one of the world’s highest rates of tobacco use. According to Global Survey on Tobacco Use among Adults made by Scientific and Research Institute of Pulmanology of Russian Federal Agency for Medicine and Biology in 2009 smoking rate is the highest among women of reproductive age - up to 26%. The Survey also states only 30% of tobacco users were counseled by medical practitioners on how to quit.
Smoking is one of main causes of mortality and disability of Russian people. Tobacco use leads to cancer, severe heart and lung diseases, reproductive disorders and other health problems. Disability and death of women due to tobacco-use has a negative impact on the whole family, including declines in standard of living and social security.
To meet this challenge, The Institute for Family Health is launching the tobacco-free gender-specific regional program “Women Against Smoking”, based on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and MPOWER in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Okrug (KHMAO).
The goals of the Program is aimed to reduce smoking among women and girls in KHMAO and to increase awareness of the negative impact of smoking among healthcare providers and female population. The Program will contribute to increase awareness against tobacco-smoke and improve knowledge and skills of health professionals in counseling women to prevent or to quit smoking. Under the project it is planning to conduct mass media and communication campaigns in health and educational facilities to improve women understanding about the danger of smoking and available preventive services. Main IFH partner to implement the Project is Health Department of Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Okrug.
The Project will be conducted by IFH within agreements with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Pfizer Russia.