E-poster Presentation 2014 World Cancer Congress

E -health strategy for control and treatment of smokers from the Professional Council of Economics Sciences, City of Buenos Aires, Argentina (2013) (#811)

Raul Pitarque 1 , Edgardo Von Euw 2 , Carlos Candiano 2
  1. Argentinean Union Against Tobacco, Olavarria, Argentina
  2. Professional Council of Economics Sciences, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Background and Context: In  October 2012 as part of a comprehensive control program for tobacco control, an e- health service was implemented targeted to affiliates of Professional Council of Economic Sciences City of Buenos Aires.

Aim:To provide support and free online counseling to smokers in a population of  70 thousand affiliates.

Strategy/Tactics:The service consists of responsive and proactive telephone support , e- mail contacts , Facebook page, Twitter service and Web page. The services offer counseling and support, but when circumstances arise professional services of the Council are required .

Programme/Policy Process: In the first year, 1516 telephone calls were made to 490 affiliates. Of the total, 320   (21%) were incoming calls, while 1196 ( 79%) were outgoing calls, which means that for every call entered, four were calls response for controlling and monitoring.

A total of  calls, 60 %  had  0-5 min of duration, 16 % 5 to 10 minutes,  10% 10 to 15 minutes and 13 %  over 15 minutes.

A total of 750 personalized e- mails  were sent  and 287 responses were received.

The Facebook service gives advice and opinions and is regularly followed by a growing number of people ( www.facebook.com / lineastop ).The website has averaged 100 hits per month ( www.lineastop.com ).

A total of 276 smokers are under treatment and 98 of them are in abstinence. The abstinence rate is 35,5 % in the first year.

Outcomes/What was learned: By using free tobacco quitline, Facebook, twitter and web page, 276 smokers were contacted and  35,5 % of them are in abstinence.