Florence, May 26, 2022 – Raise awareness among citizens and inform them about the importance of stop smoking and to adopt cheno lifestyles to avoid the onset of certain diseases related to this addiction. This is the goal of ‘Exit the tunnel. Don’t burn your future ‘ which restarts after two years of hiatus due to a pandemic.

The appointment is Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May a Florence with a great stand in Piazza della Repubblica and the possibility of tariff free spirometric tests. The two days for the national Walce campaign (Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe) in collaboration with Fro (Oncological Radiotherapy Foundation) will start on May 28, at 10.30 am, in the presence of the Councilor for Welfare of the Municipality of Florence, Sara Funaro .

The inside of the tunnel – long

14 meters
and more 3 and in the shape of a giant cigarette – is structured in four environments: a welcome desk at the entrance where information brochures on the campaign are delivered; a path divided by sectors dedicated to information on the damage caused by cigarette smoking, in which it can be found informative material made available by Walce; an area dedicated to primary preventionin which it is possible to view and the information material proposed over the years by Walce to promote primary prevention campaigns in schools; a medical area in which a basic spirometric test can be carried out free of charge in the presence of pulmonologists for measure lung and respiratory capacity and receive the result, dealing directly with the health personnel present.

The goal is to involve everyone: very young and young people, adults and the elderly, smokers and non-smokers, doctors, teachers and institutions with a project offered for free. “Get out of the tunnel. Don’t burn the future. This is the message that Walce Onlus (Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe), an Italian association founded in 2006 to support patients with chest cancer and their families, has been carrying out for six years thanks to this initiative. “We must reach the citizens directly – says the professor Silvia Novello, president of Walce Onlus and full professor at the Department of Oncology at the University of Turin – because the numbers are worrying. Although information on the health effects of smoking has grown over the past few decades, in Italy still smoke about 11 million people (equal to 22% of men and 15% of women), according to the Istat data of 2020, the most up-to-date of the surveys conducted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Iss) in collaboration with the Mario Negri Institute and Doxa. For this reason we must insist on information and education campaigns, hand in hand with measures that limit the impact of smoking ”.

“Collaborating on an initiative of this type is an integral part of the mission of our Foundation: raising awareness among the community on issues as current as that linked to the importance of quitting smoking and the promotion of healthy lifestyles, in fact, is a real investment for everyone’s health ”, says the professor Lorenzo Livi, Professor of Oncological Radiotherapy at the University of Florence and Volunteer of the Oncological Radiotherapy Foundation (Fro). “Educating, informing and preventing are the key tools for giving concrete answers to fight against thoracic neoplasms and this campaign is moving precisely in this direction. ”Saying goodbye to smoking is not an impossible mission and brings great health benefits and this initiative has ambitious goals.

All activities are open to the public from 10 to 19. Free and free admission. The campaign, sponsored by Aipo (Italian Association of Hospital Pulmonologists), Airo (Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology), Together Against Cancer Foundation and the Municipality of Florence, is made possible thanks to the unconditional contribution of AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen and Royal Foundation.