SmokeFree Legazpi wins WHO-DOH Red Orchid Award

The city of Legazpi’s SmokeFree Campaign won the 1st Red Orchid Award under the LGU category together with Calauag, Quezon in CALABARZON, Maasin City in Eastern Visayas, Talisayan in Northern Mindanao and Davao City in the Davao Region. The Red Orchid award is given to tobacco-free DOH offices, DOH hospitals and local government units. The awarding was held in conjunction with the celebration of World No Tobacco Day. The Red Orchid Award was recieved by Mayor Noel Rosal, Mayor-Elect Geraldone Rosal, Smoke-free committee chair Rose Olarte-Orbita and City Health Officer Dr. Fulbert Gillego.

The theme of this year’s World No Tobacco Day is “Gender and Tobacco with an Emphasis on Marketing to Women”. The World Health Organization (WHO), together with the DOH, is sounding the alarm on the increasing trend of smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption by women and young girls worldwide.

Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral called on everyone to protect women from the tobacco companies’ lure into a lifetime of nicotine dependence. She added that by reducing tobacco consumption, we can also reduce the crippling and fatal toll of heart attacks, strokes, cancers and respiratory diseases that have become prevalent among women.

The Red Orchid Award is given on the strength of comprehensive efforts to implement a 100% Tobacco-Free environment following the WHO “MPOWER” initiative where M stands for monitor tobacco use, P for protect people from tobacco smoke, O for offer help to quit tobacco use, W for warn against the dangers of tobacco, E for enforce bans on tobacco advertising and R for raise taxes on tobacco. The R or the raise taxes criterion applies only to local government units.

Source: DOH Leads World No Tobacco Day, confers Red Orchid Awards, Department of Health; May 31, 2010
Image source: Smoke-free Legazpi on Facebook