NSR III - BIPS

argument that young women in the ages from 15-17 form the biggest
tobacco consumer grouping resulting in the figure of 36%.
When one considers that the average age of those women survey in the BIPS
survey was 29 years. With a combination of lower social class and low
educational achievement it can be argued that future studies conducted show
that smoking rates in pregnancy have increased. In the absence of
educational smoking prevention targeting of such social groupings the
prevalence of smoking and pregnancy will increase. Presently the reality is
that the non- segregtion of smoking and pregnancy prevalence ensures that
the national statistics for Ireland appear less. This report makes the
argument that it is only when a closer examination of smoking prevalence and
pregnancy is targeted at specific social groupings that we can come to
identify where there is policy practice failures in the health promotion system.
The Chairperson of the OTC publicly stated that “there needs to be a
concerted and focussed effort by all those interested in women’s health to
develop effective smoking cessation programmes specifically for women”.
Smoking cessation policy
As stated in the 2003 report there are a raft of health strategies in which
smoking cessation is cited as a priority. These strategies include Quality and
Fairness - a health system for you (Irish Health Strategy), Primary Care – a
new direction, the Cardiovascular Health Strategy and the National Health
Promotion Strategy. There will be a third progress report from the
Cardiovascular Strategy due out in 2006 which will give up to date
information on smoking cessation.
There is no shortage of public pronouncements on the challenges facing
smoking cessation policy particularly in relation to the numbers of women
who smoke.
The Director of the National Cancer Registry has stated that in light of the
high numbers of women smokers who wish to quit but find it difficult that “we
owe it to these women to give them the right type of help, and support them
when they need it”. The fact that lung cancer will be a predominantly female
disease by 2020 due to the increasing rates of women sufferers is seen as
cause for concern.
Smoking cessation research
As there is no central database collating relevant health information it is not
possible to definitively comment on the current level of research into smoking
cessation and pregnancy.
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