Smoking remains the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in Northern Ireland, and is also the leading cause of health inequalities in our society. While considerable progress has been made in the past twenty years to reduce the number of people who smoke, prevalence rates still remain too high, particularly among those from socially or economically deprived groups. Latest research shows that 24% of males and 24% of females aged 16 and over currently smoke; among manual workers the rate is 31%.
The Tobacco Control Strategy has been developed to replace the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety’s five year Tobacco Action Plan 2003-2008. While the new strategy will continue to target the whole population, it will focus on three main priority groups; children and young people, pregnant women who smoke and disadvantaged people who smoke.
An Action Plan to accompany the strategy will be developed by the Public Health Agency which will have responsibility for implementing and driving forward the actions arising from the Strategy.
