The biggest success of a regional anti-smoking campaign in Irish schools was to keep non-smoking students from taking up the habit, according to Dr Nazih Eldin, regional health promotion officer of the North Eastern Health Board.
Speaking at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Helsinki yesterday after presenting a paper on the awareness campaign in schools in the north-east, Dr Eldin said the strongest feedback from students aged 13-18 who took part was a determination not to start smoking in the first place.
The research, carried out with his health board colleague, Ms Paula Campbell, found that 32 per cent of secondary school students smoked cigarettes. Seven per cent of these said of the awareness campaign: "It made me consider ringing the Irish Cancer Society Helpline."
However, only 3 per cent looked at the websites highlighted on the school posters for further information.
Dr Eldin said he hoped to run the campaign again but this time involving electronic media offering instant web access for the students.
The original poster campaign ran for three years, from 1999 to 2002, and covered 56 out of 58 second-level schools in the north-east. Detailed evaluation of the programme was carried out last August among a sample of 200 students and the results presented at yesterday's conference.
