Ending cigarette addiction with the French #MoisSansTabac initiative

For the third year, the French #MoisSansTabac initiative was launched by the Ministry of Solidarity and Health. In partnership with Assurance Maladie, France’s primary health insurance provider, Public Health France is proposing a program to help as many people as possible quit smoking.

Public Health France launched a vast information campaign in the beginning of October. The goal is to unite as many people interested in quitting smoking as possible. In 2016, almost 380,000 people tried to quit smoking as a result of the initiative. Six months later, 80,000 former smokers succeeded in quitting smoking entirely.

This new initiative has been part of the reason for the overall decline in smoking rates in France. Last year, the #MoisSansTabac initiative proposed an app to help smokers quit, and it was downloaded over 100,000 times! However, smoking is far from being eradicated in France. There are 12 million smokers in the country, and health authorities are hoping it can go down.

An innovative and efficient initiative

This year, an important informational technique has been put into place to help the anti-smoking initiative. From September 28-30, a short radio commercial announcing the new edition of the #MoisSansTabac initiative was broadcasted. From October 1 to November 2, five educational films were broadcasted across various television channels. In these films, viewers were able to see how former smokers felt after quitting smoking.

The #MoisSansTabac initiative invites all smokers who are hoping to quit to sign up on the website, tabac-info-service.fr. In case of questions, eighteen regional teams can be contacted across various social networks. Dedicated “fanzones” can also help smokers contact health professionals throughout France.

The #MoisSansTabac initiative is a truly collective challenge, and is an opportunity for people to end their tobacco dependence. Since October 5, 700,000 kits to help quit smoking have been distributed in pharmacies throughout the country. Last year, many smokers turned towards the electronic cigarette as an effective means of quitting cigarettes. One in three people who participated in last year’s #MoisSansTabac used an e-cigarette as a nicotine substitute.