The Adults and Health Committee of the Cheshire East Council in England has during a meeting discussed how they can reduce the number of smokers in the country.
I the report presented, they point out that smoking is the leading cause of cancer worldwide. It is also pointed out as the leading cause of miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth and stillbirth.
In the region, which has local self-government, around 10.5 per cent of all inhabitants smoke. 10.8 percent of the pregnant women in the region state that they smoked at birth. According to the region itself, these figures are as high or higher than the rest of the country.
The committee writes that they now feel compelled to take hold of these figures.
Cash prizes help
A thorough review has been made of the measures that help people quit smoking. What the committee found was that money in the form of cash or gift cards as a form of premium made smokers around 50 percent more likely to quit smoking than those who did not receive cash prizes.
Pregnant women who receive cash prizes are more than twice as likely to quit smoking as a control group.
According to the committee’s report, the number of smokers in England is stagnant. The committee also found that the number of smokers in Cheshire East remains worse than the national target.
Pregnant women should get the most
In the work of getting as many people as possible to quit smoking, the committee has presented three different alternatives. Two of these involve paying smokers to quit for good.
The first option is to give all residents over the age of 18 who smoke a financial premium to quit smoking. To achieve this, they will start a pilot project where the participants will be paid a sum of money in two different payments. It is proposed to give 200 pounds to non-pregnant women, and 400 pounds to pregnant women.
Option two is to provide financial support only to pregnant women. With this alternative, there will be a pilot project only for pregnant women, but otherwise it will be the same as alternative one. The committee writes that this will hit a narrower audience in Cheshire East. It will therefore be an advantage for those who meet, but it will be to miss an opportunity to meet the entire population.
The last alternative is not to carry out a pilot project and thus not give out any monetary donation. It will thus continue with the current plan to get the residents to stop smoking.
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