Council Pleased with Funding

The Provincial Health Council praises the provincial government's $450,000 investment in the battle to reduce smoking rates in Nova Scotia.

"The government has gone ahead and given $450,000 to that project, and I think their efforts should be applauded," said Barbara Hart, chairperson of the council. "We need to do more, but this is a good start."

On Monday, June 19, the province announced that it would invest money in the Department of Health's Comprehensive Tobacco Control Strategy.

Ms. Hart and John Dow, executive director of the Provincial Health Council, attended the Tobacco Control Best Practices Workshop, June 19-20. It was hosted by the tobacco control unit of the Department of Health.

At the workshop, the Department of Health provided statistics it received from Health Canada on smoking rates in Nova Scotia. In 1999, the province had the highest smoking rates in the country, with 29 per cent of its population over the age of 15 smoking. At the same time, Health Canada reported Nova Scotia as having the third-highest rate of 15- to 19-year-old smokers, at 31 per cent. Nova Scotia also has the third-lowest percentage of a population covered by smoking bylaws, with only 27 per cent of its population living in areas with those bylaws.

The Provincial Health Council conducted meetings and sent questionnaires to the public in January and February of 2000 to obtain Nova Scotians' opinions on health services and issues. Ms. Hart feels that the government's commitment of funding for smoking initiatives addresses some of the issues indicated by the public.

"Nova Scotians have told us that they want clean air, clean water and an improved environment. If all of us took an interest in smoking cessation, it would help for that to happen, particularly with clean air and an improved environment," said Ms. Hart. "Nova Scotians told us they want to be responsible for their own healthy life style, and a ban on smoking would allow that to happen, from a smoking and second-hand smoking perspective."

For more information on the Provincial Health Council, go to www.healthcouncil.ns.ca .