Smoking is linked to the onset of at least 25 diseases and smoking is one of the biggest cause of mortality in the world. Smoking is one of the main reasons for loss of health in Estonia as well. In the last years the percentage of smokers has decreased little by little, but the percentage of women who smoke is still high (17% in 2008). In the 8 leading causes of death in the world, smoking is one of the potential risk factors for 6 of them (WHO, 2008).
“Smoking causes the biggest damage to the health of Estonia’s population.”
The number of people who smoke is still very high in Estonia and it is one of the main reasons for years of life lost. Therefore counselling service for quitting smoking is an important intervention mechanism for reducing smoking, but it is important to constantly develop the service and integrate it into the general health services system.
Counselling offices for quitting smoking have seen a rise in visitors over the years, although the number of first time visitors has decreased since 2007. The counselling offices would be visited significantly more if the active information about the service would be forwarded to the target group (smokers) in an appropriate form. A more extensive counselling by the phone and internet would make the smoking cessation counselling more available. At the moment it is only used in a few offices. One of the biggest obstacles is likely the limited chance to use the computer and the phone in counselling offices.