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No More Butts

Wed, 16/09/2009 - 12:22pm — admin

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Smoking cessation and people with HIV

ACON recently secured a grant from the NSW Cancer Council to develop a pilot social marketing campaign designed to encourage people with HIV to engage with existing smoking cessation programs. ACON has worked in collaboration with a range of organisations that make up the HIV Positive Health Promotion Interagency for the purpose of maximising a multi-agency response targeting people with HIV.

Community consultations with people with HIV were undertaken by Positive Life NSW and ACON. An analysis of recent research indicates that a multi-layered approach is the most effective way in successfully reducing and ceasing smoking. This was supported by the findings of our community consultation. Integral to this process is the support of GP’s and nurse practitioners. There is evidence that a combination of therapies or approaches is most successful. The combination may include medical practitioner support, medication, Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), counselling, complementary therapies as well as peer support.

Research has also shown that smoking cessation is one of the most important health prevention strategies someone with HIV can undertake to reduce the incidence or impact of other health conditions associated with longer-term use of many HIV therapies. Also the ageing process further complicates the experience of living with HIV. The community consultation undertaken as part of this project also highlighted the need to support people in their attempts to quit, encouraging them to try again rather than viewing unsuccessful attempts as failure.

The campaign

Our campaign includes information about services in South East Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service and Sydney South West Area Health Service as well as details of financial assistance for NRT costs being offered by the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation. The campaign website encourages clients to also seek assistance from their GPs.

For more printed materials please contact the HIV Health Promotion Team at ACON (02) 9699 8756 or hivliving@acon.org.au.

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