Press backgrounder
16 December 2003


Quit&Win - targets to reach million smokers to stop smoking

Quit&Win is a cost-effective evidence based smoking cessation method for population-wide public health use that also supports more broadly national tobacco control work. The Quit&Win campaigns use innovative communication methods, partnership, community organization and health service involvement and bring about a cessation rate of around 20%. The Quit&Win model has proven to be applicable in different cultures all over the world.

Quit&Win is a rapidly growing smoking cessation contest that contains a positive message for smokers. The participants stop using tobacco for at least the contest period of four weeks and, if they succeed, they are eligible to win prizes. The Quit&Win organizers in the countries provide the financial means and the prizes for their local campaigns and follow an internationally standardised protocol. Prior to the contest all participants have been using tobacco daily for at least one year and have to be 18 years of age or older.

International Quit&Win campaigns have been carried out every other year since 1994. 77 countries and 700 000 participants took part in the Quit&Win contest in the year 2002. Besides the main contest for smokers trying to quit, optional contests for supporters are organised. This gives also non-smokers an opportunity to take part in the contest and helps in raising general awareness of the health consciousness of tobacco use. During the last Quit&Win campaigns there have also been an optional contest for health professionals. The goal is to get health professionals to stay tobacco free and this way become more motivated to act as role models and obtain better skills to do anti-tobacco work with their patients.

International Quit&Win 2002 set

Quit&Win contests have rapidly grown in popularity as a practical international smoking cessation activity. Quit&Win began in 1994 with 13 countries participating. Since then, the competition has taken place internationally every other year:1996 with 25 countries, in 1998 with over 200,000 participants involved from 48 countries and in 2000 some 430 000 participants in 69 countries.

Quit&Win has also proven to be a very valuable means for many national organizers in strengthening their general anti-tobacco work at all levels, through both national and international coalition building and networking.

There are two types of standardized evaluation carried out in connection with the Quit&Win campaigns, the campaign evaluation and the one-year follow-up evaluation of the participants. Even the most conservative evaluation methods in previous Quit&Win campaigns have shown that 10-30% of the participants has stayed completely smoke-free during the whole year following the Quit&Win campaign.

International Quit&Win 2004

The next International Quit&Win will be organized in May 2004. It is expected that organizers in some 100 countries and up to one million smokers will take part.
Further information: www.quitandwin.org

The International Quit&Win Coordinating Centre is situated at the National Public Health Institute (KTL) in Finland and the campaigns are carried out in close collaboration with the World Health Organization.