Particularly happy about the municipal board's decision is the alcohol and drug coordinator Agneta Roberts. At a meeting this spring with the municipality's Public Health and Safety Council, Anna Nicolaisen, tobacco manager in the Jämtland Härjedalen region, briefed the public on Tobacco Endgame.
It aroused great interest and Agneta Roberts was commissioned to prepare a statement of support for the municipal board, which she informed about Tobacco Endgame at a meeting in June. The decision came in September.
– It is a decision that also strengthens our own tobacco prevention work, says Agneta Roberts. We have had smoke-free working hours since April 2011, but need to make the ban more effective by, for example, writing smoke-free working hours into all contracts for new hires and temporary work. We have the opportunity to include such measures in a new public health plan that is currently being worked on.
– Parents' commitment to smoking among schoolchildren is also important. We have had success with the tobacco-free duo, which the schools have been actively working with for the past three years. We are also creating more smoke-free environments to protect the children.
– It's best if we can all help each other. Something that might be easier in a municipality like Härjedalen, large in area but with barely 10,000 inhabitants.
Municipal councilor Gunilla Zetterström Bäcke (S) is part of the tobacco-free duo with her 15-year-old son who is in ninth grade.
“I felt it was important when we went together and signed the contract,” she says. It has gone well. If the children can quit tobacco, we adults should be able to do it too.
Gunilla Zetterström Bäcke also sees the support for Tobacco Endgame as a health-promoting opportunity to develop tobacco prevention work in the municipality and thus improve public health.
“We want the residents of the municipality to feel good,” she says.
There are now 81 organizations that support Tobacco Endgame – A Smoke-Free Sweden 2025. Among them are three regions, of which Jämtland Härjedalen is one.
