Australian Medical Association

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, today said good planning was a key to fulfilling New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking.

“Giving up smoking is a common New Year’s resolution, and with good planning smokers can increase their chances of successfully quitting smoking for ever,” Dr Pesce said.

“There are many ways to quit smoking and different methods will suit different people. For advice and support, see your GP who can talk you through the different methods and help with an approach that is best suited to you."

MJA Media Release -  Death notification forms should ask if deceased smoked

Death notification forms should include voluntary questions about whether the deceased was a smoker, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Professor Freddy Sitas, Director of the Cancer Research Division at Cancer Council NSW, and his co-authors, from the Schools of Public Health of Queensland and Adelaide Universities said death notification forms should include voluntary questions such as whether the deceased had ever smoked, the age at which he or she stopped smoking and whether the next-of-kin was a smoker.

The growing number of Australians at risk of serious chronic diseases from obesity, smoking and excess alcohol use is a major health challenge facing Australia. This AMA Policy Brief, Preventing Obesity, Smoking and Excess Alcohol Use, summarises some key measures that the AMA believes should be given priority in a National Preventative Health Strategy, including support for the preventative role of doctors and implementation of a number of targeted community-level measures.

As Christmas approaches, the AMA is putting the challenge out to all smokers to give their family and friends the best present ever – quit smoking.

“Top of the list of gift ideas has got to be making a commitment to your family, and to yourself, to quit smoking in 2009,” said AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua.

Youth Health: Smoking

AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, today announced the winners (and losers) in the 2008 AMA/Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH) National Tobacco Scoreboard.

The Scoreboard allocates points to each State and Territory over a number of categories, including legislation, to track how effective each Government has been in combating smoking over the previous 12 months.

With scores of 71 points, Western Australia and Queensland are the joint winners for 2008.

This position statement details the harms of tobacco smoking and the measures needed to increase cessation and reduce initiation of tobacco use.