Hollard Supports the National Council Against Smoking
Every year, 44 000 people die from smoking in South Africa. Around 23 billion cigarettes are smoked each year by 7.7 million South African adults. While men are the main consumers, statistics show that there is an increase in smoking among women and more alarmingly, younger children. Given the dire health statistics of this killer addiction, South Africa faces an enormous challenge in providing support to smokers to help them quit, and more crucially, to reach young people before they start smoking.
It’s thus a fitting match that Hollard Life has donated R60 000 to the National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) to assist with its “Stop Smoking” outreach programmes. Hollard Life launched its Proactive for Smokers offering last year which, besides giving smokers a strong financial incentive to quit by highlighting the insurance ramifications of smoking, also provides them with various apps and tools to support their decision to quit.
“Smoking has a significant effect on risk insurance and the premiums that a smoker pays. Most smokers don’t realise that the health and financial burden of smoking is a lot more extensive than simply the cost of their daily fix. Smoking has a direct impact on the affordability of insurance cover. As a direct result of the higher cost of risk insurance for smokers, they tend to under-insure on their cover, which compromises their financial security and that of their loved ones too should anything happen to them. Smoking is also proven to be the greatest avoidable cause of premature death and disability in the world. Our support of the NCAS and the outreach work they perform is fitting in providing support to smokers to quit, and to also prevent young people from starting up in the first place. Stopping smoking, regardless of how long the person has smoked for and how many, is one of the best things a smoker can do for his or her health and finances,” explains Saks Ntombela, Hollard Life & Investments Managing Director.
Established in 1976, the National Council Against Smoking has been instrumental in lobbying government for legislation to control tobacco use. “Our mission is to promote health through non-smoking. We provide support and educational programmes to help smokers quit, to educate young people about the risks of smoking and prevent them from starting, as well as protect non-smokers from the effects of secondhand smoke,” explains Dr Yussuf Saloojee, Executive Director: National Council Against Smoking.
“We commend Hollard for its support in helping us further our mandate to educate South Africans around the real risks of smoking. The donated monies will be going towards the development of educational materials for our youth outreach programmes into schools. We are currently running a pilot programme whereby people with smoking related diseases, notably cancer, visit schools to share their personal stories of the impact that smoking has had on their quality of life. The impact has been tremendous as the children get to interact with someone who can give them a real-life, hard-hitting account of just how devastating this disease is for human health. The donated funds from Hollard will be used in furthering our youth outreach programme that is focused on prevention of nicotine addiction from the outset,” adds Dr Saloojee.
Hollard Life is a long-term risk product provider that offers risk products ranging from death and disability to critical illness, cancer, income replacement and retrenchment benefits. Each year, Hollard supports a non-profit organisation that works towards making a health-related improvement in the lives of South Africans by driving positive behavioural change. Part of the insurer’s fundraising drive is to encourage financial advisors to be part of the initiative. Hollard therefore pledges a sum to a worthy cause for every application received from financial advisors during the campaign period. (www.hollard.co.za)
