Smoking

South West Public Health Observatory

Smoking in the South West of England
SWPHO Bulletin December 2001

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Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and death in the United Kingdom. More than 120,000 people each year die of smoking related disease and it is estimated that it causes up to one third of cancer deaths and a sixth of other causes, including CHD and stroke.

This bulletin aims to provide up to date information to support health communities to plan and monitor effective strategies to work towards the smoking targets set out below. Where information is not available at local or regional level, national data have been shown. However the recent survey Smoking Among Secondary School Children in 1996 did not show evidence of great regional variations (see Figure 9). An overview of the different surveys used is given in Appendix 1.

In 1998, the Government published its White Paper Smoking Kills which set out three key targets to reduce smoking prevalence across England :

	To reduce smoking among children from 13 per cent to 9 per cent or less by 2010 with a fall to 11 per cent by 2005.
	To reduce the prevalence of smoking in adults from 28 per cent to 24 per cent by 2010, with a fall to 26 per cent by 2005.
	To reduce the proportion of women who smoke during pregnancy from 23 per cent to 15 per cent by 2010, with a fall to 18% by 2005.

The Public Health Observatory is part of the South West Observatory, a wider Regional intelligence function, currently supported by the South West Regional Assembly, the Department of Health, the Department for Education and Skills, Government Office South West, the South West of England Regional Development Agency and the Environment Agency.