The “SMOKE FREE GREECE” initiative was awarded yesterday, May 4, 2022 by the European Commission, in a special ceremony at the European Parliament building in Brussels, with the first place in the competition “2021 EU Health Award on Cancer Prevention – Health Award 2021 for Cancer Prevention »Ως η most successful cancer prevention information campaign in Europe. The European Commission awards “outstanding initiatives by NGOs or other social organizations and educational institutions seeking cancer prevention education for children and young people aged 6-24”.
A total of 110 applications were submitted from 15 different European countries. After careful consideration of the candidates and their actions, the Commission selected ten finalists. The first prize was awarded to our “SMOKE FREE GREECE” initiative, while the second and third prizes were awarded to actions from Croatia and the Czech Republic.
The “SMOKE FREE GREECE” initiative is implemented by the George D. Behrakis Research Laboratory of the Hellenic Cancer Society and the Institute of Public Health of the American College of Greece, with the main sponsor being the Behrakis Foundation in Boston.
For the last thirteen years, targeted actions have been implemented in order to remove Greeks – and especially the new generation – from the danger of smoking. The results of the multilevel effort are reflected in the reduction of the prevalence of smoking by 33% at the age of 16-24 years and by 27% in the total population of the country. Finally, the actions of the SMOKE FREE GREECE initiative opened the field of application of wider legal regulations, culminating in the voting and universal implementation of the anti-smoking law in 2019.
The founder of the “SMOKE FREE GREECE” initiative, Professor Panagiotis Behrakis, receiving the award in Brussels, said: an anonymous teacher, without whose dedication tens of thousands of students all over Greece would not have been helped to start their lives free of tobacco “.
A few words about the SMOKE FREE GREECE initiative
Since 2009, at the core of the action of SMOKE FREE GREECE is the development and implementation of a whole series of scientifically designed and child-friendly educational activities, which are the main mechanism for changing the perception and attitude towards smoking.
The interventions in the schools, as well as the corresponding production of educational material, are always done in good cooperation with the Ministries of Education-Religions and Health. The response from the educational community as well as from the students themselves at the national level was – and remains – impressively warm. In fact, the notebook “Learning not to smoke”, which has already been translated and printed in English, German and Arabic, has been particularly successful.
The SMOKE FREE GREECE training program includes:
- Preventive interventions for smoking in the student community
- Experiential Seminars for parents, teachers, health professionals
- Educational material for students, teachers, parents, health professionals
- Annual pan-Hellenic student conferences
- Student competitions with topics focused on smoke-free life
- Collaborations with NGOs
- Social media campaign
Specially designed interventions for children ages 10 to 17 focus on the positive reasons why smoking should be avoided, highlighting the benefits of a non-smoking-related healthy lifestyle – including protection against related cancers and other cancers. tobacco diseases. From 2014 to 2022, more than 61,000 students participated in 1,841 interventions with impressive results.
Also, the SMOKE FREE GREECE training seminars are tools specially designed for teachers, health professionals and parents to properly approach elementary and high school students and guide them on smoking prevention. Since 2010, more than 2,500 educators and 700 health professionals have completed Train-the-trainer workshops.
Since 2010, 11 Panhellenic Student Conferences have been organized entitled “Education For A World Without Smoking” and 8 Panhellenic Student Competitions. The competitions, with a different theme each year, encourage students to express themselves through artistic means such as drawing, painting, music composition, video clips and cartoons inspired each time by the chosen theme that touches on a life without smoking. More than 7,000 students have participated in educational activities, theatrical and musical events and more than 3,500 school-age students have so far participated in the competitions.
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