---
title: "History"
url: https://quitandwin.org/fi/content/sisallot/competition/02history/
description: "Archived campaign history from the 1985 North Karelia Project to the 2002 international contest."
---

# History

2–29 May 2004

In 1985 the North Karelia Project started to apply a smoking cessation contest, the Quit&Win, as a new method in its overall community-based anti-smoking work. In 1986 the first national Quit&Win campaign was arranged, combined with national stop-smoking television programs that the participants were urged to watch.

In 1994, within the WHO’s CINDI (Countrywide Integrated Noncommunicable Disease Intervention) framework, the first international Quit&Win contest was organized in 13 countries which all applied jointly agreed rules. 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, in 2000 some 430 000 participants in 69 countries and in the International Quit&Win 2002 already almost 700.000 smokers took part in 76 countries worldwide.

Related

[Rules in short](https://quitandwin.org/fi/content/sisallot/rules/01rulesinshort/)

·

[Participating countries](https://quitandwin.org/fi/content/countries/01index/)

The competition

- [What is International Quit&Win?](https://quitandwin.org/fi/content/sisallot/competition/01index/)
- [How to take part](https://quitandwin.org/fi/content/sisallot/competition/02countries/)
- **History 1985–2002**
- [Participating countries](https://quitandwin.org/fi/content/countries/01index/)

Coordinating centre

International Quit&Win Coordinating Centre
National Public Health Institute, KTL Finland
Mannerheimintie 166
FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland