The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: The main objective of the “Smoke-free class” project is to delay or prevent the onset of smoking in pupils who do not smoke, and reduce smoking among pupils, who already experiment with smoking so that they do not become regular smokers.

Methods: In Lithuania there is modified international format of the competition used. First the competition idea was introduced by ENYPAT in the year 1997. Lithuania started the competition I the year 2003. We have used more intensive format of the competition. The format contents three different activities during competition. One is art competition, second – knowledge competition and third one – sport competition. Every class should follow those collecting scores. Class which gets more scores becomes a winner. There are regional and national rounds.

Results: For the firs time pilot competition was introduced by Kaunas Drug Abuse Help Centre for Youth together with Kaunas University of Medicine and organized in Kaunas city with only about 10 classes participated. After successful pilot project, competition was introduced nationally, and in the year 2004 9 out of 10 Lithuanian regions participated in the competition. In the year 2005 competition involved all regions with more than 200 classes participating. Competition includes also training for class coordinators. There is no scientific evaluation of the competition in Lithuania done but it is in near future plans. Now the competition become a part of National tobacco control program and involves Health promotion and Public health centers in all Lithuanian regions.