Tobacco.org

China looks to kick the habit 

Nearly one in three smokers worldwide lights up in China, where cigarettes -- commonly given as gifts -- are so tightly woven into the culture, some believe it's an impossible habit to kick. But a new report suggests the keys to quitting lie in the country's own backyard.

Hong Kong has successfully fought tobacco for two decades and seen its smoking rate drop from 23 percent in 1982, when the campaign began, to 12 percent in 2008. The former British colony, now under Chinese rule, hit cigarettes hard with taxes up to 300 percent, banned indoor smoking and promoted education through schools and public service announcements -- proving that smoking and Chinese culture aren't necessarily married for life.

"We all learn from shared experiences. The U.S. tobacco program has learned from Australia, Canada and others," said Jeffrey Koplan, from Emory Global Health Institute in Atlanta, who wrote a commentary published online Friday in The Lancet medical journal. "Hong Kong is very relevant to Chinese conditions, and the big lesson for all of us to learn is that effective health promotion programs are multidimensional."

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