Southend-on-Sea: City aims for 'smoke free' target with vaping push

The number of tobacco smokers has fallen in Southend-on-Sea

A city is on target to become "smoke free" by 2030 by encouraging smokers to vape, a health boss claims.

Director of public health, Krishna Ramkhelawon, said figures showed less than 5% of Southend-on-Sea's population might smoke by the end of the decade.

He said the approach was to encourage smokers to quit tobacco and instead "move people on to vaping".

"The challenge for vaping," he said: "I think the jury is still out."

Mr Ramkhelawon said the "quit rate" in Southend remained above 40% while "most places" had dropped to about 30%.

"The approach we have taken since 2018 [is] to move people onto vaping, the reason being that the comparative data we had in 2017 was that using tobacco was more likely to give you other forms of diseases than vaping could," he told Southend Borough Council's people scrutiny committee this week.

Southend-on-Sea could see the number of smokers fall below 5% of its overall population by 2030, the director of public health said

Vaping itself has since come under the spotlight with some raising concerns that it may also be harmful, especially to young people.

The Local Government Association (LGA) is calling for a complete ban on disposable vapes by 2024 over concerns they cause litter problems, are a fire hazard and appeal too strongly to children.

Mr Ramkhelawon added: "There was nothing to suggest what vaping could do and that's the piece of work that's ongoing.

"We introduced in 2019 the scheme where we encouraged people to go for vaping and quit smoking and I think that's the main reason why we are seeing a high rate of tobacco quitters."

Vaping has come under the spotlight in recent days with the LGA calling for a ban on disposable varieties

Mr Ramkhelawon said he had been advised by the National Knowledge and Improvement Services - which is part of the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities - that Southend could be the first area in the East of England to reach the 5% milestone.

The city's stop smoking service included 29 GPs and 11 pharmacists, signed up to provide 12 weeks of support to quitters, with the latter offering a walk-in service.

Four vape shops in the city are offering a "vape swap" service, including a free starter kit.

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