The newly formed “Take Action Youth Advocacy,” or TAYA, comprised students from different high schools and included the Kagman High School JROTC cadets.
They took part in a roadside sign waving at the Civic Center on Beach Road from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Ricky Itibus, Community Guidance Center tobacco health coordinator, said enlisting the youth in an anti-smoking campaign will make it more effective.
It is important that adults see the youth advocating for a tobacco-free environment, he added.
The Great Marianas Smoke Out is held every year to raise awareness regarding the harmful effects of tobacco use, said Joanne Ogo, comprehensive cancer control program coordinator.
Josephine T. Sablan, Community Guidance Center director, said quitting smoking is a great challenge but anti-smoking campaigns can provide assistance and support to smokers who want to give up tobacco use.
She said it is important that prevention should be focused on children. “We want to make sure that kids don’t start smoking,” she added.
Former Rep. Tina Sablan, Commonwealth Cancer Association program manager, also noted the importance of youth participation in the anti-smoking campaign.
The prevention campaign aims to ensure that children will not start smoking, she added.
She lauded the enactment of the Cancer Registry Act which will allow the government to develop a cancer registry in the CNMI. The Commonwealth Cancer Association is keeping track of cancer-related data but this requires a formal population-based cancer registry, she said.
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer reported that cancer is on pace to replace heart disease as the number one cause of death worldwide in 2010, and smoking is among the reasons for this increase.
An estimated 12.4 million people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year and 7.6 million people will die, the report said.
The Great Marianas Smoke Out event also showcased educational materials and health exhibits from program partners such as the Department of Public Health’s HIV/STD Prevention and Intervention Program, the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, the Substance Abuse Program, the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service, and the Ayuda Network.
