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Monitoring the impact of stop smoking services: exploring the geography of demand and supply
Graham Clarke, School of Geography. Leeds
Abstract
The UK Government has set ambitious targets for reducing the number of smokers. Currently the aim is to reduce the number of smokers by around 20% by 2010. To aid this process health authorities are in the process of operating a number of stop smoking services, often in different locations around our towns and cities. The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of these services in reaching the population that smokes. To achieve this aim a number of steps are proposed.
First, it is necessary to estimate the distribution of smokers across a city or region (the area chosen is the City of Leeds). A model has been built which estimates smokers across the City based on age, sex, social class and ethnicity. The second stage is then to look at how many smokers visit different centres and thus to estimate the market penetration of such centres – that is how much of the population that smokes is being reached under current levels of provision. Third, the!
research looks at optimal locations for such services based on a number of different scenarios concerning existing and future patterns of smoking. This should help to decrease the current inequalities in access for different population groups. The new scenario modelling will also include modelling the impacts of major changes in legislation, such as the likely impacts of the smoking ban in public places due in July 2007.
Biography
Graham Clarke is professor of Business Geography at the School of Geography, University of Leeds. His main interests are the geography of health and retail geography. In addition to work on stop smoking services he is involved with projects relating to geographical patterns of obesity and type II diabetes. The latter involves modelling the impact of food access on the likelihood of health problems. He has also worked with Leeds PCTs on aspects of resource allocation (given estimates of variations in morbidity). He is an expert in GIS, spatial modelling and data analysis, all of increasing interest in public health care monitoring.
Graham Clarke
School of Geography
Woodhouse Lane
Leeds
LS2 9JT
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