Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg

Dizza Tobak and A Non Smoking Generation

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We have had a Dizza Tobak-meeting today, with our partners from SAMBA and from A Non Smoking Generation.

Dizza Tobak meeting

As you know, Dizza Tobak is a tobacco-prevention project supported by Pfizer Foundation, run by SAMBA in collaboration with A Non Smoking Generation. We work with kids and have given them the challenge to produce the best anti-tobacco campaign ever. We have run the project for two years now, and will reach the final year of the Pfizer sponsored part of the program in 2011. Hence, a very important part of the project this year will be to transfer the “ownership” of the Dizza Tobak platform to A Non Smoking Generation. They will take the concept and platform into their regular operations.

The transfer of “ownership” to A Non Smoking Generation will happen during fall 2011, according to the project plan:

Project plan Dizza Tobak

But before the transfer and all activities in the fall of 2011, the focus will be on this year’s competetion. View last year’s uploaded anti-tobacco campagin contributions on dizzatobak.se. Get inspired and start working on your contribution for this year!

Dizza Tobak Flyer

Dizza Tobak - we welcome your contribution

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You may recall from last week - “the tobacco-free week” here in Sweden - that the number of smokers has increased among teenagers. According to FHI ( The Swedish National Institute of Public Health, in Swedish: “Statens Folkhälsoinstitut”), more than 40% of the girls in their second year at high school (in Swedish: “gymnasium”) smoke. Horryfying numbers, I must say!

I wrote a blog post last week where I clearly stated that I of course support the proposals from FHI, e.g. not allowing tobacco ads, and not allowing tobacco exposure in supermarkets. But I also feel that there is a very big necessity of changing the attitudes towards tobacco among teenagers. I am therefore extremely happy to see the new “launch film” for the Dizza Tobak-project uploaded at dizzatobak.se. I really hope that not only kids get inspired by the movie, but also adults so they support their teenagers in engaging in the fight against tobacco.

Feel the Force! Join Dizza Tobak Live and fight tobacco! Collaborate with thousands of other kids all around Sweden, and with Pfizer’s partners SAMBA and A Non Smoking Generation, in making the best anti-tobacco campaign ever!

Secondary, or passive, smoking kills hundreds of thousands

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Today, as we are approaching the end of the “tobacco-free week“, the top news article in both radio and in newspapers here in Swden, has been the Lancet article on secondary (or passive) smoking (see DN.se for instance). A number of scientists have on behalf of WHO made a first global study on the effects of secondary smoking. The scientists have reviewed data from 192 countries and made the horrifying and scary estimates that secondary smoking kills 600 000 people annually, of which 165 000 are children… This means that roughly one out of every hundred people dying every year, is being killed by smoking - without smoking themselves…

This is not acceptable! Tougher regulations are one possibility, but as I said in my blog post in the beginning of the week, we also need to change the attitudes towards tobacco. Kids need to feel good and cool when they say “no to tobacco”. They need to find celebrity idols that do not smoke. Smoking celebrities are such bad role models!

Please help us in fighting tobacco use among kids. Join the Dizza Tobak-movement!

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/passiv-rokning-dodar-600000-per-ar-1.1216231

Idag inleds tobaksfria veckan

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Blog post in Swedish. A short English summary in the end of the blog post.

Idag kan man läsa på nyhetsplats i Dagens Nyheter att hela 43% av flickorna som läser andra året på gymnasiet röker. Bland pojkarna är siffran 36%. Min direkta reaktion på dessa siffror, och på det faktum att trenden är uppgående bland ungdomarna, är “vad är det som har hänt?”. Jag tror att många med mig som upplevt över 30 års kamp mot tobaken med bland andra A Non Smoking Generation känner sig bedrövade.

I artikeln i DN idag, som känns som en passande inledning på tobaksfria veckan,  beskriver Folkhälsoinstitutet vilka åtgärder de anser krävs för att trenden skall brytas. Bland annat vill de se

- att tobaksskatten höjs,

- att ett totalt marknadsförings- och exponeringsförbud införs,

- att fler rökfria miljöer skapas, och

- att personer under 18 år förbjuds att röka.

Jag stödjer “kraftfulla insatser mot tobaken” (läs även dagens debattartikel på SvD:s Brännpunkt) som ni säkert vet om ni följt mitt bloggande under de gångna årens arbete med Dizza Tobak i samarbete med bland andra SAMBA och A Non Smoking Generation. Jag tror att det är enormt viktigt att jobba med ungdomarnas attityder till tobaken. Att engagera ungdomarna själva i kampen. Det är bara de som kan se till att tobaken, dvs såväl rökning som snusning, blir “socialt oaccepterat”.

Lanseringen av årets Dizza Tobak-projekt pågår för fullt och ni kommer kunna följa utvecklingen bland annat på dizzatobak.se. Anmäl er skolklass, er fritidsgård eller motsvarande föreningar, eller ta ett initiativ så att ert barns, eller grannungens, skola går med. Ska vi besegra tobaken är jag övertygad om att ungdomarna själva måste utforma anti-tobaks kampanjerna. De är de enda som vet varför alltfler ungdomar missbrukar tobak. Vill du inspireras rekommenderar jag att du tittar på några av bidragen i förra årets Dizza Tobak-tävling.

The “tobacco free week” (an initiative from Swedish National Institute of Public Health) starts today. The need for chenge is huge. 43% of the girls in their second year of high school (being roughly 17 years old) and 36% of the boys smoke. Extremely bad figures, and the trend is that more and more teenagers smoke… The Swedish National Institute of Public Health calls for a number of actions, e.g. higher tobacco taxes, a stop to advertising and exposure of cigaretts and snus in the shops. I also believe it is extremely important to work with the attitudes to tobacco among the teenagers. Our project Dizza Tobak is an important effort to change attitudes. See some of last year’s anti-tobacco contributions from teenagers via this link.

CSR - a core element of strategic business development

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Earlier today I met with some colleagues from AstraZeneca in Södertälje, some kilometers south from Stockholm. We met to discuss business opportunities based on CSR-initiatives (Corporate Social Responsibility). One of the basis for the discussion was the so called Walderik-Mattson-pyramid:

If you have followed my blog previously you might already have seen the pyramid and you know it is an attemt to visualize different kinds of “Social Responsibility” on different markets around the globe. From our core global philanthropic programs in e.g. Africa, via our work with organizations such as Grameen Health on e.g. micro-financing within our Global Access Strategy and the stronger and stronger presence within the generic market in order to increase the access to affordable medicines in “emerging markets”, to the work around our branded pharmaceuticals in the developed world. In the top of the pyramid are the initiatives on health promotion and prevention. How can we contribute in the fight for better health in society through helping people from getting sick? Or expressed with the words from our CEO Jeff Kindler,

“…we have committed to advancing wellness, prevention, treatments and cures, because health is one of the most important investments a society can make. It’s time to move beyond simply helping people get better after they get sick. Shouldn’t we help them keep from getting sick in the first place?”

One of the issues I discussed with my AstraZeneca colleagues is how we can collaborate and act together to build a market and a business model for health promotion and prevention initiatives. How do we for instance show the value of a tobacco prevention initiative such as Dizza Tobak for the relevant agencies and payers in society?

If we through a project such as Dizza Tobak together with SAMBA and A Non Smoking Generation helps thousands of teenagers to “say no to tobacco” - what is the value for society? Is it even possible to calculate? And if so, could companies run programs like that and be compensated in relation to the wellbeing generated? What can we learn from prevention-type of businesses such as the vaccine business? Since it is possible to calculate the societal value from vaccine programs I believe it should be possible also to show the value, and to quantify it, of programs and initiatives such as minhjärtskola.se or Smart Heart. Smart Heart is as you may know also available as an iPhone-app.

Helping people when they are sick has been our core business for long time, but more and more efforts are being made to help people not getting sick in the first place. And vaccines are just one example. Patient support IT-tools such as minhjärtskola.se are additional ways where we can help people in their lifes. Help them from getting sick. That’s probably our most important social responsible project! And wouldn’t it be reasonable that we find a way to split the revenue created between us and society… Well, at least I and my discussion partners today think so!