10 YEARS OF ANTISMOKING PROGRAMS IN ITALY - A REVIEW

A diverse anti-smoking program for the prevention of cancer and cardio vascular diseases has been ongoing in Italy since 1981, coordinated by the National Cancer Institute of Genoa and the Italian League Against Cancer of Genoa. The program includes several initiatives addressed t o different target groups; schoolchildren and teachers, military perso nnel, doctors and nurses, and women. A preliminary inquiry on the atti tudes and habits towards smoking was implemented by the distribution o f questionnaires to the various groups involved in the program. An ann ual school-based anti-smoking program involves about 10,000 students a ged four to 18 and their teachers. Meetings are delivered by experts t o groups of 20 to 40 students with the aid of specific audiovisual mat erial, which are periodically updated. Additional informative material , leaflets, and posters are distributed to both schoolchildren and tea chers. Another educational program on primary prevention of smoking-re lated health hazards is addressed to military recruits, career soldier s, and medical officers. It consists of several initiatives: training of military doctors and nurses, lectures to military recruits, and dis tribution of informative material in the barracks. An annual meeting i s organized to discuss program implementation and results. Surveys are carried out by distributing an anonymous questionnaire to health prof essionals in several Italian hospitals to assess the smoking habits of doctors and their attitudes and practices towards counseling patients against smoking. The results show marked differences in smoking habit s in the cities under study. Annually since 1983, an updated course is organized and addressed to teachers of primary and secondary schools in Genoa. The aim of the course is to train school personnel and to he lp them to implement prevention programs in the schools, with the aid of experts in the field of prevention. A series of initiatives are add ressed to women at different ages to sensitize them not only to the mo re common tobacco risks but also those regarding pregnancy, oral contr aception, and so on. The survey was conducted on a representative samp le of 12- to 65-year-old female population groups. It is the first of this kind in Italy to ascertain trends in smoking behavior among Itali an women in relation to age, educational achievement, and occupation.