S'pore to reward nicotine quitters

S'pore to reward nicotine quitters

SINGAPORE (AFP): A year after launching a visually shocking campaign featuring blood clots in the brain and fatty heart deposits, Singapore is switching to incentives to get its population to quit smoking.

On Wednesday, anti-smoking advocates launched a contest offering smokers in Singapore who successfully kick the habit a chance to win round-trip tickets for two to London, Sydney or Hong Kong, plus cash.

The contest is part of an international event organized by the World Health Organization, which expects more than one million smokers in 80 countries to participate, said Alex Chan, chairman of the Committee on Smoking Control.

Singapore has one of the lowest rates of smoking in Asia but health groups are stepping up their campaign, said the anti- tobacco advocates, noting that it took 14 years for Singapore's smoking rate to fall from 20 percent in 1984 to 15 percent in 1998.