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April 7, 2010 - NEW REPORT FINDS MORE SMOKERS CALLING TELEPHONE QUITLINES BUT STATE BUDGET CUTS PUT PROGRESS AT RISK
Record numbers of U.S. smokers are turning to telephone quitlines for help in breaking their addiction, but access to this critical service is being put at risk by state budget cuts, according to a report released today by the North American Quitline Consortium and other public health organizations. The number of tobacco users calling quitlines—a telephone helpline where smokers can turn for trusted, reliable help when they want to quit—increased 116% between 2005 and 2009, according to the report. Despite this increase in demand, total funding for all U.S. quitlines decreased for the first time ever in Fiscal Year 2010.
[READ MORE]May 29, 2009 - WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY HIGHLIGHTS SMOKING'S HEALTH HAZARDS, US TELEPHONE QUITLINES STRUGGLE TO SERVE ALL CALLERS SPURRED BY FEDERAL TOBACCO TAX HIKEMay 31 is World No Tobacco Day, a day sponsored by the World Health Organization to encourage smokers to quit. With the recent 62-cent federal tobacco tax increase, more smokers than ever seek to kick tobacco. The nation’s telephone quitlines have seen an increase in calls since the tax hike, with calls more than doubling in March as compared to February and three times higher than the same time last year.
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May 13, 2008 - NATIONAL PANEL RELEASES NEW TOBACCO CONTROL GUIDELINES EMPHASIZING COUNSELING IN HELPING YOUTH QUIT SMOKINGEarlier this month a distinguished panel sponsored by a consortium of eight Federal government and nonprofit organizations released the 2008 Clinical Practice Guideline – Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. The newly revised Guideline recognizes the need to address youth smoking and highlights, for the first time, that counseling is an effective treatment for helping youth smokers quit. The new Guideline also notes that quitline counseling offered through telephone-based tobacco cessation services is an effective approach for helping smokers and has the ability to reach a broad and diverse group of people, including youth. New data from the North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC) shows that the majority of U.S. quitlines are reaching out to youth smokers.
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January 8, 2008 - ONE MILLION CALL 1-800-QUIT-NOW TO STOP SMOKINGMarking an important milestone in efforts to help over 45 million U.S. adult smokers quit, 1-800-QUIT-NOW—the national, toll-free number for free help kicking tobacco—recently celebrated its one millionth call. Since it began in November 2004, 1-800-QUIT-NOW has routed one million callers to their respective state quitlines—telephone-based services that help smokers quit through counseling, information, self-help materials and, in some instances, nicotine replacement therapy.
[READ MORE] October 17, 2007 - MEXICO STARTS TELEPHONE SERVICE TO HELP TOBACCO USERS QUIT, NAQC PROVIDES TRAINING AND SUPPORTOver 30 percent of the adult Mexican population use tobacco, a leading cause of premature death due to smoking-related cancer, respiratory and ciculatory diseases. On Oct. 9, 2007, Mexico launched the Mexican National Quitline--a 24-hour daily telephone service to help tobacco users in Mexico quit. The quitline is funded and operated by the country's Ministry of Health, National Council Against Addictions.
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