The World No Tobacco Day will be celebrated on May 31st. For this reason, the Mijas Town Hall, through the Health Department, has programmed an agenda of events to vindicate the day and to remember the serious health problems caused by the consumption of tobacco and its by-products.

To begin with, and in collaboration with the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), Mijas will join the network of cities with Smoke Free Spaces. These spaces will be located next to the sculptures of the donkeys installed in the square of the Tourist Office in Mijas Pueblo, the Branch Office in La Cala and outside the Costa Mijas shopping centre.  This choice is not random, explained the councillor for Health, Marco Cortés (PP), "but we chose very popular tourist spots and, therefore, with a lot of traffic, so that we get rid of the concentration of smoke in these busy areas and at the same time raise awareness of the serious damage that tobacco consumption has on our health". 

The Smoke-free Areas are an initiative of the AECC to promote environments free from harmful smoke by traditional and/or electronic tobacco, in order to create healthy environments that protect health and promote the prevention of diseases caused by its consumption (cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer...), as well as to break the habit of smoking in public places of public coexistence. 

For her part, the president of the AECC in Mijas, Lola Sanchís, stressed that the town has become "the municipality in the province with the most spaces of this type, thus helping to reduce the exposure of passive smokers to smoke, as well as encouraging them to give up the habit of smoking". 

According to AECC data, 21% of the population in Andalusia smoke, the 45-54 age group is the one with the highest rate of smokers, with more than 373,126 people. It is men who consume the most cigarettes per day, with 177,555 men acknowledging that they smoke between 10 and 19 cigarettes per day, compared to 99,400 women who say they consume this number of cigarettes per day.

Awareness-raising

The Health Department has also launched a competition for students from first to fourth year of high schools in the municipality to design a campaign against the consumption of vapers, "which are almost worse than normal cigarettes because they have a high lead content and it has been shown that their vapour is seriously damaging to health, so we wanted to contribute by organising this competition, where we will award the young winners with tickets to the water park", said Cortés. 

The working groups must be made up of 3 to 5 members. The two best campaigns will be chosen from each school and the deadline for participation is May 24th. Proposals should be sent to prevencion@mijas.es or delivered in person to the guidance department of each school.

Smoke-free walk

In addition, a walk has also been planned for May 31st to raise awareness on the serious health consequences caused by the consumption of tobacco and its by-products. The walk will start from the Plaza de San Valentín to the Cortijo Don Elías. 

The walk, which this year will celebrate its 11th edition, is organised by the Health Department in Mijas Town Hall and the Costa del Sol Primary Care District and has the collaboration of the health centres in La Cala and Las Lagunas, the local assembly of the Red Cross, the AECC, the Finnish collective FIDA International and the Federation of AMPAS of the Costa del Sol.

Cruz Roja Mijas, for example, will have volunteers to ensure the correct development of this walk "and then we will also set up a stand in the Cortijo Don Elías to inform participants of the serious consequences of smoking, bongs, vapers...", said María Martínez, vice-president of this group in Mijas.

A large number of young people from IES Las Lagunas and IES Ana Carmona ‘Veleta’, as well as groups such as Mujeres Mijitas, among others, are expected to participate. During the walk, the group will stop at two schools in Fuengirola and another in Las Lagunas, where they will be welcomed by children from these schools, who will also carry their banners for the occasion. "In addition, we will pass through some pharmacy doors, where we will do cooximetry tests to see the level of CO2 in the children's blood or, if they want, in the teachers, and in the Cortijo Don Elías we will continue with workshops and a spectacular zumba session", added Miguel Gallardo, president of the Regional Federation of AMPAS of the Costa del Sol.

FIDA

The Finnish association FIDA International will also support this initiative for the first time, showing at Cortijo Don Elías the negative effects of tobacco in a very visual way. This is a group present in almost 60 countries around the world and which, here on the Costa del Sol, already has more than 20 members, "on the 31st we will be there at the activity because currently there is a lot of misinformation, for example, about vapers, so we hope that on that day they will leave the Cortijo Don Elías with the decision not to smoke or, if they have already tried it, to quit", said Elise Poikkeus, collaborator of the health promotion department of FIDA.

 

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