“STOP the PUFF! Tayo’y mag bagong BAGA, SIGARILYO ay ITIGIL”: A Pilot Community-based Tobacco Intervention Project in an Urban Settlement

Abstract

The success rate for smoking cessation in the country remain low despite the intensified efforts of the government to curb smoking. There is a need to support tobacco control policies with clinical interventions for smoking cessation. However, cessation experts in the country are few and healthcare workers with training on tobacco interventions are limited.  The project aimed to address the clinical aspect of tobacco control by establishing tobacco cessation services in the community. This was done by providing brief tobacco intervention training among health workers and community leaders, thus allowing this intervention to be integrated in the existing programs of the community health center. This also led to the creation of possible referral mechanisms to cessation support providers. This was complemented with health education activities that promote smoke-free behavior. Keywords: tobacco; cigarette smoking; tobacco dependence; smoking cessation; brief advice; brief tobacco intervention​​​​​