Ottawa Charter0National Tabacco Campaign Essay Example for Free

Ottawa Charter0National Tabacco Campaign Essay The Ottawa Charter is a global health promotion run by the world Health Organisation. It involves five action areas called developing personal skills, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, reorienting health services and building healthy public policies. To combat lung cancer and other health risks the Australian government launched The National Tobacco 2011 Campaign to raise awareness of smoking through the five action areas to reduce the number of daily smokers by 2018. Developing personal skills supports personal and social development through the use of information and resources, which educate health benefits to enhance life skills. In gaining theses skills individuals can make informed decisions to take control of their lives. In relation to the National tobacco Campaign 2011, this will involve raising awareness on the effects of smoking, encouraging individuals to quit therefore reducing their chances of developing ling cancer. Strategies employed by the campaign to address developing personal skills include media campaigns and quit tips. The current media campaign features television, radio, prints and online advertisements to address the issue of smoking and its relation to lung cancer and other health risks. The recent ‘cough’ TV advertisement shows an average Australian male. He is enjoying time with his mates, at work, spending time with the family however he is constantly coughing. Then the voice over states ‘every cigarette brings cancer closer. ’ This short but powerful statement informs individuals that every cigarette they take is putting them at the risk of developing cancer. Thorough the tactic of showing an average Australian male it allows the public to relate to the situation, empowering them to change their habits or else you could end up leaving your loved ones behind. Another strategy is the use of quit tips. This website fact page illustrates new ways that individual can relax as many people smoke while bored or stressed. Some of these relaxation methods include breathing techniques, exercise or a change of routine such as chewing gum or having a stress ball in the car to utilize while stuck in traffic. These strategies are informative yet realistic ways in which individual can swap a smoking habit for a positive health choice instead. This physically helps individuals to make an informed choice to develop their individual skills. By adapting these new life skills through the promotion of stress relief methods individuals are encouraged to take control and empower their own lives. It educates that smoking doesn’t relieve stress yet it only causes stress with its relation to many health risks. Developing personal skills is an important sector of the Ottawa Charter as without it individuals wouldn’t be educated to see the underlying effects of smoking and its strong link to lung cancer. Creating supportive environments focus’s on the environments in which people work, live and play. The aim is to ensure these environments reflect healthy living through the promotion of positive health choices. In relation to the National Tobacco Campaign 2011, this principle involves encouraging one another to quit smoking. This personal and community support takes into consideration the diverse needs of society in the need to fight against smoking. Strategies include providing fact sheets in a variety of languages and providing an online quit service. Australia is a very multicultural society and the campaign has taken this into consideration by creating print and radio advertisements in over 20 languages. This campaign has a goal to reduce the percentage of daily adult smokers by 2018. By providing health promotions in diverse languages, it opens this goal up to the wider Australian population encouraging equity and support. By breaking the language barrier the non-English speakers/readers will feel more supported and encouraged to quit smoking, therefore reducing their chances of developing lung cancer. This advertisement highlights they ways in which the human body will repair itself once smoking has stopped and its motto is ‘Every cigarette you don’t smoke is doing you good. ’ The statement is encouraging and supports the fact that every cigarette has an impact. Another way the tobacco campaign offers a supportive environment is through the telephone quitline. By phoning 131 848 an individual can confidentially speak to a counselor gain information but importantly advice and acknowledgement of their efforts so far. This local cost call can be made from anywhere around Australia, supporting those living in rural areas. Furthermore this quitline can go on to mail individual a quit coach book. This provides the best ways to quit, ways to cope with withdrawal symptoms and details on courses run by local organizations that offer extra help and counseling. This strategy is effective as it helps individuals realize that hey are not alone and their struggle to quit will offer so many advantages. Through first hand advice and the help of professional encouragement individual’s receive the confidence to keep going. Through this support within the environment individuals are more likely to access/continue to use support services to adapt positive behaviors in their lives. These changing life patterns will stop the smoking habits, reduce the ri sk of lung cancer and enhance overall wellbeing. http://www. boredofstudies. org/wiki/Ottawa_Charter_for_Health_Promotion_(1986) Strengthening community action involves public participation to achieve better health. Through initiatives inspired by the community, healthy living patterns can be established to raise awareness and empower action. In relation to the National Tobacco Campaign this involves the help of professional within the community as well as local governments and the public to make and implement action on smoking. Some strategies to strengthening community action include the help someone quit page, and individual community projects. The ‘help someone quit’ initiative provides information on ways to aid a friend by encouraging them and following through with their progress, even if you’ve never smoked before. It states the importance of not nagging a smoker to quit, as that just makes them want to retaliate. Yet the best approach is to clearly explain the motives to stop smoking and offer support. If non smokers and in particular past smokers where to help individuals within the community to quit smoking the whole populations health and attitude would be strengthened, encouraging positive health behaviors. The Bankstown community has specifically strengthened their action by installing ‘No smoking’ signs and restricting smoking 10m within children’s playgrounds. This strategy requires an extra step as it requires the help of the general public to enforce the rule, saving children from passive smoking. The signs educate the public on the hazard of smoking but the enforcement from the public is what will strengthen its success. Through establishing support groups and encouraging social support, the community is brought together to solve smoking through empowerment. (http://www. bankstown. sw. gov. au/Installation-of-New-No-Smoking-Signs/default. aspx) Reorienting heath services refers to utilizing services aimed at prevention, promotion and finding a cure. It is the responsibility of individuals, community groups, health professionals, institutions and governments to work together to achieve good health. In relation to the National Tobacco campaign it involves the sha red role of all health services to lead a change to prevent smoking and support wellbeing. Strategies include working with various campaign partners and a letter to GPs written by the chief medical officer. The campaigns website offers links to both Australian and International organizations who care for health with a goal of tackling smoking. Examples include the National Asthma council, World Health Organization and the Australian Cancer Society. Some of these health services have drop-in-centers or stores/clinics but they all offer information and resources on smoking or lung cancer. Some organizations are preventative while others are curative services. This is effective as through this extra support individuals can expand their knowledge and find a network that works best with their needs. The Australian government’s chief medical officer, Jim Bishop wrote a letter directed at GPs asking for their support on the National Tobacco Campaign. It mentions that smoking is the largest preventable causing disease. He later went on to ask local doctors to conduct brief interventions with their smoking patients, encouraging them to quit. Through this incentive the action of the local GP will maximize society’s members to quit. The smokers will receive professional help from their trusted GP to aid their own individual responsibility. Once both teams work together, this is when good health can be achieved. Through the help of extra health professionals individual can see the overall effects of smoking and with this extra support confidence will be achieved to fight the risk of developing lung cancer by stopping smoking habits Building Healthy Public Policy relates to policies and legislations made by the government to create health improvements. It goes beyond health care as it designs rules also generating consequences for those who disobey. In relation to the National Tobacco campaign it involves rules on where smoking is prohibited and where cigarettes can be sold as well as punishments for those who neglect these rules. The following law states that from March 2006, all cigarette packets require pictorial health warnings and the quitline number. These images are a form of scare tactics that shoot out health warnings in the bid that smokers will become turned off by imagers of cancerous body parts. The quitline on the box encourages individuals to quit and almost plays as a guilty trip, that each cigarette they inhale is causing them damage.