Life saving Stoptober 2024 campaign comes to Sunderland

Tobacco control group Fresh and Sunderland City Council are supporting people across Wearside to join the tens of thousands quitting this October.

More than five million adults in England still smoke, leading to 64,000 deaths every year. Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable illness and death.

To help people stop smoking, the annual campaign challenges smokers to go smoke-free for 28 days. Research suggests that smokers who complete the challenge are five times more likely to quit for good.

Ahead of the campaign launch, Fresh took the Stoptober banner out across the region to town centres and well-known North East landmarks.

In the North East, Fresh’s Smoking Survivors campaign is running from September 16 and throughout Stoptober. It's a call to smokers in the region to put the lethal habit behind them and quit for their health and their family.

In their own words, and accompanied by striking medical footage, former smokers and their families speak of the devastating impact on their health, finances and their families.

Many people try to quit smoking with willpower alone, but it's much easier to go smoke-free with the right help such as quitting aids, local stop smoking services or switching entirely to vaping.

People can visit FreshQuit.co.uk for a full list of North East stop smoking services and advice on quitting.

Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Most people who smoke regret ever starting. It damages health and costs tens of thousands of pounds to smoke over a lifetime. Smoking has killed over 125,000 people in our region since the year 2000 alone.

“The good news is that thousands of people every year successfully manage to quit smoking and have a better life by putting smoking behind them. Just breaking down your quit attempt into 28 days might feel less daunting.

"Once you’ve done that, you can tell yourself you are well on the road to staying quit.

“Don’t ever give up on quitting even if you don’t succeed first or second time. Keep trying. Next time it can be different.”

For help to quit the habit, call Sunderland Stop Smoking Service on 0191 5671057, or visit www.sunderlandstopsmokingservice.co.uk.