Smoking Cessation: Community level

There are many sources that have influence over our actions such as: where we live, our family and friends, the media, education and much more.  All of these have influence over whether you will become a smoker or not.  Smoking became popular during a time where the information about the harmful effects was not known.  In the early 1960s smoking was very popular and could be seen all over the country, everyone smoked.  As generations of children grew older they became smokers because that is what they had seen from their parents and the media.  With the improvements of knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking came improvements in prevention and education.  The American lung Association has been a great resource to get information about prevention and the harmful effects of smoking to large amounts of people.  According to the American Lung Association “smoking cessation has increased by over 70% since 1965.”  That is a major improvement but there is still much that can be done to increase that number.  Also according to the American lung Association still 392,000 people die every year from smoking in the U.S.  Without further improvements in prevention and cessation programs this number could increase.

The American Lung Association has annual Lung Walks to raise awareness for lung disease and this brings people in the community together for a wonderful cause.  Not only is money being raised to help fund programs for prevention but it also gives useful tips for smoking cessation and other health related problems.  
American Lung Association: Lung Walk