Social Change UK has won a contract to work with the public health team in Wales to carry out social research and design a campaign aimed at 11-12 year old girls who are considering taking up smoking.
The primary aim of this project is to prevent the uptake of tobacco use in adolescent girls between the ages of 11-12, living in households where an adult smokes in an area of deprivation. Reducing the uptake of tobacco use is a key element within the Tobacco Control Plan for Wales. The vision set by Public Health Wales is a smoke-free society for Wales, in which the harm from tobacco is eradicated. The aim is to drive down adult smoking prevalence levels in Wales to 20% by 2016 and to 16% by 2020.
The average age at which children start to smoke in Wales is 12. The percentage of 11-16 year olds who smoke at least once a week is 5% for boys and 10% for girls in North Wales. The percentage of 11-16 year old girls smoking in North Wales is higher than the Wales average of 8%. Twice as many children in the most deprived areas are living in households where an adult is a smoker (55%) compared to the least deprived areas (24%) and in households headed by someone who had never worked/was long term unemployed, 62% of children lived with a current smoker and 38% with an adult who had recently smoked in the home. Evidence suggests that children whose parents smoke are twice are likely to start smoking.
For more information on this project please contact us.