Innovation: My Quit Buddy

Australia

AAI Domains:

• Capacity and enabling environment (use of ICT)

• Independent, healthy and secure living (increasing share of healthy life expectancy)

Tobacco smoking is still a massive threat to public health that is responsible for around six million deaths around the globe, and is a major risk factor for numerous causes of premature mortality particularly circulatory disease and cancer as well as respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Smoking by pregnant women or high levels of exposure to smoke is associated with low birth weight babies and higher rates of illnesses such as asthma among infants and children that can have long-term effects on health and well-being.

Approximately 22% of adults in the 28 EU countries smoke, although there is a large variation between the lowest rate (Sweden with 13%) and the highest rate (Greece with 39%) and although there has been a 12% fall in the number of adults smoking in the EU over the last decade there are huge differences in the rate of decline. Several countries have seen smoking rates decline by more than 25% whilst others have seen relatively small decreases.

My Quit Buddy is a smart phone app developed by the Australian National Preventive Health Agency to encourage and assist smokers to quit smoking by supporting behaviour change. The app enables users to keep track of how many cigarettes they have not smoked, how much tar they have not inhaled and how much money they have saved since they have been smoke free. It also allows users to record personal goals and motivational tops using pictures, words and audio messages. In addition, there is a community board that provides peer support to people trying to quit smoking and stories can be shared with others on Facebook and Twitter.

Stopping smoking is difficult and a variety of support services are needed to help people change their behaviour, as well as policies that regulate the price and availability of tobacco, particularly for young people as most people start to smoke during adolescence. My Quit Buddy has been downloaded by more than 260,000 people in Australia and around the world, it has won awards for apps from the industry and has been highly rated by users. An evaluation of the impact of My Quit Buddy suggested that more than 40% of smokers who used the app as part of their strategy to stop smoking were smoke-free after six months – which is encouraging.

In relation to active ageing, stopping smoking is highly likely to increase health and life expectancy by reducing the risk of developing the major non-communicable diseases such as cancer and circulatory diseases like heart attacks and stroke. The app provides a socially innovative way to use ICT and appears likely to provide the nudges to behaviour change that can add years to life and life to years by reducing the incidence of chronic respiratory diseases.

Australian Government Department of Health website