Transcript
OFA TUKIA - This is not the first time. This is the second phase of this campaign. The first phase we launched last year. That was the highlight of our World No Tobacco Day celebration here in Tonga, but this campaign is part of the implementation of our national strategy for the control and prevention of NCD and this campaign is our response to the status of smoking here in Tonga and staying alarmed. The rates of smoking here in Tonga is amoungst the highest in the world, with 46% of male and 13% of female smoke. In response to this alarming status of smoking in Tonga, so we decided to develop this mass media anti-tobacco campaign.
SELA JANE HOPGOOD - The campaign is described as 'hard-hitting'. Could you explain why?
OT - We refer to the images that we use because they are quite striking and it shows the ill effects of tobacco smoking. Along with these images we have strong and powerful messages along with these images and we believe that those powerful messages will greatly influence peoples decision and choices in regards to tobacco smoking. These ads are a result of partnership and working with international organisations like the World Lung Cancer and Heart Foundation. They have those ads and we liaise with them to agree for us to adapt those images to our local contacts here in Tonga and what happened we pre-tested. We conducted a pre-testing of those images and those TV ads and then with the top five ads with the strongest emotional impact that can motivate people to quit smoking, those are the five ads that we use for this campaign because this campaign is a five years campaign that we have to rotate the messages every year and it has to go along with the life of our national strategy for NCD control and prevention.
SJH - What are the figures around deaths in Tonga due to smoking tobacco?
OT - We don't have a data that's specifically on the person smoking, but we have data on the number of deaths from NCD and we all know that smoking is one of the key receptors for NCD and according to the Ministry of Health, it's about 70% of deaths every year is from NCD. That's similar to the rates of deaths from NCD at region and global level. It's around 60, 65, 70% and now Tonga is at that level, with the top four is cardiovascular, we have the diabetes and respiratory diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and cancer. According to the WHO estimates for Tonga is one person die every week here in Tonga due to the harmful effects of tobacco, but those estimates are based on the data that we provide to them.
