Welcome to the HALT perpetual report, updated quarterly to keep you abreast of local tobacco control activities. The report follows the HALT Five Year Plan - 10 High Impact Changes, giving a flavour of activities taking place across the area.

This report looks back over 2008 and 2009, previous reports can be found by clicking here

1. Work in partnership

Effective partnerships are central to moving the tobacco control agenda forward. Partnerships need to be strategic and create a joined-up approach to tackling the public health issue of tobacco as a shared priority. This requires senior leadership, developed Tobacco Control Alliances and positioning of these within the framework of local strategic partnerships.
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2. Gather and use the full range of data to inform tobacco control

Collecting robust data to determine the scale of the challenge in a given area will inform local tobacco control goals, helping to ensure that efforts are focused in the right places. The available knowledge can then be translated into informed planning and commissioning
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3. Use tobacco control to tackle health inequalities 

A locality committed to addressing health inequalities will need to intelligently commission tobacco control if more significant reductions in smoking-related inequalities are to be achieved. Interventions targeted at the substantially untapped group of smokers within the routine and manual group must be a priority as this is the main means of tackling health inequalities. click here for more >>

4. Deliver consistent, coherent and co-ordinated communication

Bringing communications into the local strategic approach to tobacco control increases the effectiveness of national and local smokefree campaigns, is central to social marketing and is fundamental to tobacco control advocacy. click here for more >>

5. An integrated stop smoking approach

The local NHS Stop Smoking Service should be viewed as just one element of an overall strategic and comprehensive programme rather than the sole agency delivering tobacco control at a local level, albeit acknowledged as a function that underpins many other parts of a comprehensive programme. click here for more >>

6. Build and sustain capacity in tobacco control

Capacity building is a long-term process but in order to maintain progress and momentum in tobacco control it is essential that local capacity is strengthened and sustained. Successful tobacco control will require infrastructure, resources and political will.
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7. Tackle cheap and illicit tobacco

Tobacco smuggling seriously undermines the impact of other tobacco control measures.  There needs to be greater effort to reduce both the demand and supply of cheap illicit tobacco.  This is a cross-cutting issue that requires engagement from all partners in a local Alliance click here for more >>

8. Influence change through advocacy

Tobacco control advocacy is about changing the political, economic and social conditions that encourage tobacco use and gaining public, political and media support for tobacco-related issues. click here for more >>

9. Helping young people to be tobacco free

Smoking prevalence among 11-15 year olds has remained at 9% in recent years, but at age 15, 16% of boys and 24% of girls are regular smokers. Youth prevention should be part of a comprehensive tobacco control programme based on denormalizing smoking across the wider population.
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10.  Maintain and promote smokefree environments 

A concerted effort is required to sustain the profile of tobacco control and maintain the momentum provided by the Smokefree legislation of July 2007 if the significant benefits are to be had from de-normalizing smoking are not to be lost.
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