CRI听力:Smoke-free Campus Launched by Chinese Medcial Students

To mark the 23rd annual World No Tobacco day, students from 16 medical schools across China have now pledged to go smoke-free. As we hear from Wang Ling, the idea, which was launched by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, is to use the would-be doctors to promote the idea of a smoke-free environment.

In marking the launch of the new campaign, Li Shu from Peking Union Medical College pledged, on behalf of all the students at the school, to say no to smoking.

"We have been very concerned about the smoking control situation in our country. As medical students, we believe we have a greater responsibility to tell people about the harmful health effects of smoking. And as future doctors we hope we can be more convincing with our own smoke-free efforts to show people how smoke cessation can help change one's life."

China now has a plan in place to ban smoking in all public venues, workplaces and on public transportation by the start of the new year. However, as the country with one of the largest population of smokers, health authorites admit that China has more work to do to reach the goal of becoming smoke-free society. Jiang Yuan is deputy director of the tobacco control office with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"China has 300 million smokers and 540 million second-hand smokers. Last year's figure shows smoking among healthcare workers as prevalent as those with no medical background. What's more, many of our medical workers are not well aware of the harmful effects of smoking. Some 30% of our medical workers don't even know that coronary disease is smoking related. China, indeed, has a long way to go to reach the goal of becoming a smoke-free society."

However, Dr. Jiang says she is hopeful that China is now getting a handle on smoking, noting that more and more young people are saying no to tobacco.

As one the Tobacco-Free Campus leaders, Li Shu says their new campaign is just the beginning.

"My school has designed a special course on smoking-control. And other medical schools have tried to integrate their efforts with the everyday life of the students, such as calling on girls to stop their boyfriends smoking. I'm sure our Tobacco-Free Campus effort will get stronger as more students start getting involved."

For CRI, this is Wang Ling.