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Vape Britain: Huge new drive to wipe-out smoking in England by 2030
A review commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care is expected to recommend promoting e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative for existing smokers, when it reports later this month.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid appointed former Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan to lead the inquiry in February. Ministers want to make England "smoke free", defined as fewer than one in 20 people smoking, by the end of the decade.
Mr Khan said: "In my review I have considered a range of critical interventions that will make the most difference. For example, I’ve looked at the promotion of vaping as a less harmful alternative; a greater role for the NHS in ending smoking and the need to tackle illicit tobacco sales." "Tobacco is the single largest cause of preventable illness and death, with a quarter of deaths from all cancers estimated to be from smoking in 2019. […] Despite national progress such as the ban on indoor smoking implemented in 2007, smoking remains very high in certain parts of the country – particularly in poorer areas" Khan added.
A report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health found "Concerns that use of e-cigarettes among young people would grow rapidly and provide a new pathway into smoking have not materialised in the UK to date."
Conservative MP Bob Blackman, chair of the all-party group, said: "If we do carry on as we are, we will be lucky if we make England smoke-free by 2046, as opposed to 2030. Roughly 300 young people start smoking every day. When someone is hooked on smoking, they will almost certainly die prematurely. Radical action has to be taken."
Source: The Express, 7 May 2022
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Blackpool hospital patients to get extra help to quit smoking
A new Inpatient Smoking Cessation Service is being launched at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and will provide advice to patients to help them stop smoking.
Figures show nearly a quarter of residents in Blackpool smoke - much higher than the national average. A report to Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust board of directors says: “Blackpool and some areas of Fylde and Wyre have very high numbers of smoking related hospital admissions. Now the Trust’s new service – the Inpatient Smoking Cessation Service – will help patients who are visiting the organisation’s hospitals and who are smokers, to stop smoking. Patients who smoke and are due to come into hospital will be met during their visit by the Trust’s inpatient specialist stop smoking practitioners who will give details of the support available."
Source: The Blackpool Gazette, 6 May 2022
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Levelling up just got tougher, says Michael Gove
Cabinet Minister for Levelling Up, Michael Gove, says rising prices are making the government's plans to reduce regional inequalities more difficult and more important. The government recently set out its 12 "missions" for the Levelling Up policy - ranging from improving education to faster broadband capability to local transport - with a deadline for delivery in 2030. "Unless we stick to those missions, then the cost-of-living issues that we face at the moment will deepen inequality," said Mr Gove. For the first round of the so-called Levelling Up Fund, £1.7bn has been allocated to towns and cities across the UK.
However, a BBC Panorama investigation has raised questions about whether money is reaching the most deprived areas in England. When Panorama sent freedom-of-information requests to councils in the 100 most deprived areas in England, it found that 28 councils had all their bids to the Fund rejected. This included 18 areas that were on the government's top priority list, including Knowsley and Blackpool.
Meanwhile, 38 councils won all, or some, of the money they requested, and 34 councils did not submit a bid in this round. A second round for the fund will open for applications at the end of May.
Source: BBC News, 9 May 2022
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Queen’s speech: what bills to expect
Tomorrow (10th May) will see the Government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming year set out in the Queen’s Speech, at the state reopening of parliament. This year’s Queen’s speech is expected to be themed around growing the economy, easing the burden on families and levelling up.
Four bills will be carried over from the last session of Parliament, when the Prime Minister’s political troubles and unexpected events such as the Ukraine war pushed the legislative agenda off course.
A new bill overseen by Michael Gove is expected to write “Levelling Up” plans into law, for example by making it a legal duty for the Government to report its progress on various metrics of inequality between different parts of the UK. Other bills expected to be announced in the Queen’s speech include a draft mental health bill, which will overhaul the Mental Health Act 1983, with the aim of limiting the use of detention among other measures.
Other bills expected to be announced include a schools bill, a higher education bill and a Brexit freedoms bill among others.
Source: The Guardian, 9 May 2022
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'I know a lot of people who have died prematurely' - the Greater Manchester streets where women's life expectancy is lower than in Colombia
According to a new report by the Health Foundation, life expectancy for women living in the poorest 10% of areas in England, such as parts of Oldham in Greater Manchester, is lower than in any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country, except Mexico.
Women in these areas can expect to live on average 78.7 years - significantly below the average of 83.2 years for the whole of England. And the gap in life expectancy between women in the richest and poorest areas of the country is a staggering 7.7 years.
Oldham resident, Susan, says, "I certainly think that statistic is accurate around here." Susan cited smoking, low income, poor diet and general poverty as possible reasons.
The Health Foundation's report comes as the government is due to publish a white paper on health disparities this summer. A pledge to increase healthy life expectancy by five years and reduce the gap between the healthiest and least healthy local authorities was announced in February as part of the levelling-up agenda.
But the Health Foundation warns that the government's strategy for improving health has so far failed to grasp the scale of the challenge needed and that - based on pre-pandemic trends - it will take 192 years to achieve that increase. The foundation also highlights how the rising cost of living is threatening to widen the health gap between the rich and poor even further.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are committed to levelling up health across the country and our Health Disparities White Paper, due later this year, will set out action to reduce the gap in health outcomes between different places, so that people’s backgrounds do not dictate their prospects for a healthy life.”
Source: Manchester Evening News, 8 May 2022
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India: 38% men, 9% women use tobacco products according to health survey
India’s National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5) has recently found that 38% of men and 9% of women above the age of 15 use tobacco products in the country. The report also found that only 1% of women consume alcohol, compared with 19% of men above the age of 15 years.
Women (19%) and men (51%) belonging to Scheduled Tribes, an officially designated group of peoples who are among the most deprived in the country, are more likely to use tobacco than those from any other population groups Among men as well as women, the use of tobacco is higher in rural areas (43% for men and 11% women) than in urban areas (29% for men and 6% for women). Nearly three-fifths of men (58%) and 15% of women with no schooling or less than 5 years of schooling use tobacco.
Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, Deputy Director, Centre for Cancer Epidemiology, Tata Memorial Centre said: “[…] Tobacco not only affects those consuming it but also people around them. As a first step, let us amend the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Act 2003 in a way that the Tobacco Industry becomes a less profitable industry,”
Source: The Indian Express, 9 May 2022
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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