Not Smoking is cool

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The interdisciplinary project, Prevention of Nicotine Addiction in Children and Adolescents in Hamburg and Surrounding Areas, also known as Not Smoking is Cool, has been conducted at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) continuously since May 2005. The project is based on three pillars: a lecture for 5th and 6th grade elementary school classes with 220-230 children weekly, nicotine consultation services for nicotine-dependent pupils, and informational events promoting nicotine awareness directly in the schools. The weekly lectures are incorporated within the project week of the participating schools, which are then provided with relevant information materials.

Since 2005, more than 80,000 students have participated in this project. Even in the current year, there has been active participation in the three to four informational events offered every month on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12:00 noon in the lecture hall of the former gynecology clinic. These lectures are not only visited by students from Hamburg schools, but pupils from the surrounding areas of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony also take part in these smoking prevention programs as well.

Professor Laack, who supervised the project until his departure from UKE, initiated the Not Smoking is Cool project in 2005. Since 2010, Dr. Andritzky has continued the program. Three other employees of the II. Medical Clinic, Dr. Hansen, Dr. Schwörer and Dr. Harbaum, have also supported this valuable project since the autumn of 2012, allowing its continuous implementation.

Not Smoking is Cool has been supported financially by the Hamburg Cancer Society and contributors of individually selected companies from the pharmaceutical industry as well as by the Association for The Prevention of Smoking among Children and Young People in and around Hamburg (see association’s website). To participate in this program for school children please contact Mrs. Andrea Lentfer (Phone: 040-7410-5 9307) - Executive Office of the Center for Psychosocial Medicine (Professor Thomasius). The statistical evaluation of the project is also coordinated here.

For questions on the topic of Not Smoking is Cool, you can also contact Mrs. Deike Dirks (Phone: 040-7410-5 3962) - Executive Office of the II. Medical Clinic (Professor Bokemeyer).

If your school is interested in participating in this project, please get further information by visiting the following website: www.nichtrauchen-ist-cool.de

The following is an alternate E-mail address: [email protected]