During the period May 1st- 31st, 2012, the Romanian Association of Oncology “Sfânta Ana” in partnership with the Gorj County Council organized the campaign “SAY STOP SMOKING! CANCER KILLS, NO MATTER THE AGE!” The project addressed to the students from gymnasium and high school, aiming to raise awareness of the young in terms of the risks they are exposed to when they are smoking, particularly to the risk of developing lung cancer (above 5000 students).
Through the events organized and the information delivered, the association assists the attempts of the smokers to quit smoking and encourages the young people to abstinence, who are more vulnerable at the aggressive ad used by the cigarette manufacturers.
The activities carried out within the project have been the following:
– The publishing of fliers, posters, other informative materials (film, audio spot);
– Each class of students included in the program received 2 posters. They have been kept in the classroom, in a visible place, accessible for the students to read the poster on each side during the breaks;
– In cooperation with the psychology teachers, the biology teachers and the form teachers, debates were organized with the students during the homeroom class on lung cancer, the risks of smoking and of passive smoking, providing informative materials and a documentary movie in this respect. Each student received one flier about lung cancer to discuss it with family and friends.
– A meeting was organized on May 26, by the team of surgical oncologists from the Oncologic Institute “Alexandru Trestioreanu”, Bucharest (the team that cooperates with the association and periodically, performs free of charge examinations, in Tg-Jiu) with a representative group of high school students. A student who suffered from cancer was also present at the meeting, an ex-smoker, whose life story is significant in the sense of outlining the effects of smoking on health.
– A round table was organized on May 31, aiming to bring together the institutions and bodies activating in this sector and other related sectors.
– The dissemination on a large scale of the information through the mass- media.
