By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

There is good news for those, who may need help when it comes to breaking the smoking habit.

Help has arrived! Now, smokers who want to quit will be able to get professional medical help and psychological counseling.

Starting next month, a medical consultation center for quitting smoking and a “Hotline” will operate at the Pubic Healthcare Center and the Health Ministry in Azerbaijan.

The project will be implemented in accordance with the requirements of the “Strategy to Combat Non-communicable Diseases in Azerbaijan in 2015-2020”.

During the pilot phase, which will last for two months, one specialist will work in each office and on the hot line. 

Currently, the relevant office established in the outpatient department of the center and a special telephone line was commissioned.

One of the most important ways people can reduce the risk of tobacco-related illness and death, both personally and globally, is to reduce their use of tobacco – or stop smoking. 

Most of the smoking population in Azerbaijan are men. About 40-60 percent of men smoke and from two to 10 percent of women smoke in Azerbaijan.

Almost 50 percent of men in the country smoke daily, 40 percent of them smoke at least one or two packs of 20 cigarettes per day.

Specialists claim that in most cases the cause of smoking at an early age is the desire of children to feel them like an adult. The child will most likely be accustomed to smoking, if his/her parents would smoke in the presence of them.

Smoking among children is not widely spread in the country, however, most of them start smoking at the age of 12-16 years.