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Reports from the Field

• Moscow Sponge Winter Campaign

  Mar 12, 2010
  
  WLF’s Rebecca Perl and Irina Morozova, who both worked with the Moscow Duma on the Moscow Sponge campaign with one of the Sponge LED screens in the Moscow metro.

  When I arrived in bright, cold, snowy, mid-February Moscow for a series of meetings with Russian partners, I was happy and shocked to see that the LED poster images from the “Sponge” tobacco control mass media campaign were still up in the metro. The campaign was only suppose to run through December and January. The first time I entered the metro, there it was in the heart of Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater station, Teatralnaya, by the exit! You ideally want your ads to be placed at exits because people often think about lighting up as they are leaving the metro. We also know that’s a good place for ads because that’s where the tobacco industry always puts theirs.

  Actually I was wondering if the industry might get someone to write a letter complaining about the ugly, graphic anti-tobacco ads in the beautiful, elegant Moscow metro, but so far it hasn’t happened. Maybe they don’t want to call any more attention to the campaign than it’s already gotten. It’s gotten quite a lot: About 90 stories, including TV talk shows, and calls for a smoke-free city. Friends in Moscow told me they had seen the ads on television several times. Another said she quit after seeing the ads.

  At present, alas, Moscow is a smoker’s paradise. At least no one smokes in the beloved metro, but It’s hard to find restaurants or hotel lobbies with even a non-smoking section, let alone no smoking. But hopefully that will change in the coming years, with the help of such campaigns and other interventions, as it now has in much of Europe.

  Metro posters are only a portion of the “Sponge” campaign that started in December 2009 and will continue in the metro through the end of the year. The campaign was run by the Moscow Duma, with assistance from WLF, and has included television ads, billboards, posters, print and Internet components.

  An evaluation of this campaign found that one in two smokers and former smokers in Moscow recalled seeing or reading about the “Sponge” campaign, especially on TV. In addition 43 percent said that the ad made them think about quitting, and nearly 20 percent said they actually tried to quit as a result.

  Rebecca Perl
  Special Projects Manager
  World Lung Foundation
  

  
  
  Sponge Campaign, Moscow
  Winter 2010
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Posted by Rebecca Perl      Login and comment

• Spring Festival Gift-Giving in China

  Mar 9, 2010
  2010 marks the second year that WLF will be supporting a campaign in China to discourage against the practice of giving cigarettes as gifts. With the Chinese New Year holiday fast approaching, gift giving is at its peak. Working with WHO, China CDC, and other local partners, the campaign makes people aware of the harmful health effects of tobacco use and equates giving cigarettes with gifting friends and family with lung disease, cancer, stroke, even death. This year’s campaign was launched on January 15th in Beijing, at a media event hosted at China CDC headquarters. Prominent health officials publicly expressed their support of China CDC’s tobacco control initiatives and several international organizations in attendance also gave remarks, including The Union, WLF, and WHO. The campaign will air in 11 cities this year, up from 4 last year. Evaluation of the campaign is planned for after the Spring Festival holiday so we’re looking forward to seeing some ...continue reading
  Posted by Yvette Chang      Login and comment

• Enhancing Maternal Health in Tanzania

  Feb 3, 2010
  For the last year WLF has been working with the Ifakara Health Research and Development Center to improve access to maternal and neonatal health care in Tanzania. By enhancing the capacity of healthcare providers with life saving skills and equipment, the program aims to decrease maternal and newborn mortality in some of the most remote regions of the country. In mid-January I had the opportunity to visit several remote areas of Tanzania where WLF has been upgrading infrastructure, supplying equipment and enhancing skills at local health centers. The Mabamba Health Center is a great example. Located on the western border near Lake Tanganyika and the border of Burundi, this small, isolated health center has benefited from a newly trained Assistant Medical Officer (AMO), a new anesthesiologist, and two new nurses. Along with a fully equipped operating theater, new staff houses, and improved access to water and electricity, the center now has the personnel and equipment to ...continue reading
  Posted by Carl Mercer      Login and comment

• Some Things Just Don’t Work that Well with Holes in Them

  Jan 27, 2010

• I Love Smoke-Free Paris

  Jan 22, 2010

• Media Communications Workshop in Singapore

  Jan 7, 2010

• Poverty and Lung Health: 40th World Lung Conference in Cancún, Mexico

  Dec 15, 2009

• Thanksgiving in Hanoi

  Dec 14, 2009

• Moscow Duma Launches “Sponge” Campaign

  Nov 16, 2009

• 3rd Cross-Strait Conference on Tobacco Control

  Oct 27, 2009

• Turkey Smoke-free site Visit

  Oct 15, 2009

• Judith Mackay at WPRO meeting

  Sep 26, 2009

• Egypt Mass Media Training

  Sep 15, 2009

• Ad filming in Egypt

  Sep 15, 2009