A NEW campaign to encourage Asian people to give up smoking is set to be launched today.

Health bosses believe one of the reasons the number of people smoking in East Lancashire is nearly twice the national average is because of the large south Asian communities in the area.

Now members of the local Health Promotion Unit, based at Accrington Victoria Hospital, are preparing to spend their share of a £750,000 fund set up by Department of Health, which wants to see a national reduction in smoking among the Asian population.

As well as using promotional tools such as advertising to specifically target Asian smokers, medical professionals will also be approached in a bid to get more ethnic smokers referred to the Smoking Cessation Service, based in Accrington.

There will also be an awareness evening at the Accrington hospital this evening, aimed at GPs, health workers and community workers who will be working with the local community to cut down on smoking. Speakers will include consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon (specialising in facial injuries) Steve Langton, from the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS trust and Mujib Rahman, of the Leicester Tobacco Paan Action Group.

The launch of the campaign comes less than a month after the Lancashire Evening Telegraph revealed how young Asian smokers were being targeted by firms manufacuring illegal tobacco products.

Shipped in from Asia, they are sold in small shops and carry no health warnings. Many are packaged to look like other products. Trading Standards bosses seized chewing tobacco as well baccie-filled toothpaste and sweets. It is feared that many Asians buying the products may not be aware of the tobacco content.

Smoking cessation and prevention co-ordinator Tessa Ellis said: "Smoking is the largest preventable killer in the country, accounting for one in five such deaths. Nationally, the average percent of the population smoking is 28 per cent. The Government wants that down to 24 per cent by 2010.

"In East Lancashire, that figure is 40 to 42 per cent and one of the reasons why is because the south Asian communties have not responded to previous awareness campaigns.

"They can be more at risk from cancer because they use more chewing tobacco which can cause mouth cancer. And because the campaigns in the past have not been aimed at this community, smoking is much more common."

The campaign aims to reduce the number of Asians smoking, make sure they know the risks and get more Asians using the Cessation clinic.

Today's launch in Darwen will bring together medical professionals and urge them to help Asian people kick the habit.

Tessa added: "Many Asians are known to have tried giving up but it has not worked for them because they do not know where to turn. We want to encourage doctors to refer their Asian patients to us. I may see one Asian for every 50 patients.

"We will target Asian people through their community centres and their mosques. We want to tell them support is here and they can give up. We also want to make sure they know what the risks are."

There is also a specialist Asian language phoneline, the NHS Asian Tobacco Helpline, open on Tuesdays between 1pm and 9pm.

For Urdu ring 0800 169 0 881, Punjabi ring 0800 169 0 882, Hindi ring 0800 169 0 883, Gujarati ring 0800 169 0 884 and Bengali ring 0800 169 0 885.