New year campaign urges smokers to quit for good

The benefits of quitting smoking are being highlighted in a new Public Health Wales campaign aimed at helping people make 2026 the year they stop smoking for good.

The Break Its Hold campaign launched at the start of the new year, a time when many people reflect on making positive lifestyle changes. It focuses on the everyday challenges smokers face, such as managing stress, finding time for themselves and improving their quality of life.

The campaign promotes support available through Help Me Quit, which offers free, expert-led smoking cessation services across Wales.

While most smokers say they want to quit and many attempt to do so each year, evidence shows that people are significantly more likely to succeed when using structured NHS support. Help Me Quit provides tailored advice at a time and place that suits individuals, alongside free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) or other stop-smoking medication.

Public Health Wales also highlighted the financial benefits of quitting smoking. With a pack of 20 cigarettes now costing £16.45 on average, a smoker using a pack a day can spend more than £115 a week, or around £6,000 a year.

Smoking remains the single biggest preventable cause of disease and death in Wales. Between 2020 and 2022, an average of 3,845 deaths a year among adults aged 35 and over were attributed to smoking, accounting for more than one in ten deaths in that age group. Over the same period, smoking was linked to more than 17,000 hospital admissions annually.

Public Health Wales said the figures highlight the continued burden smoking places on individuals and health services, despite progress in reducing smoking rates. The National Survey for Wales reported that 10% of adults smoked in 2024–25, representing tens of thousands of people still at risk.

Mary-Ann McKibben, Consultant in Public Health, said support is key to helping more people quit.

“Smoking continues to harm thousands of lives in Wales every year — but change is happening,” she said. “Fewer people are smoking than ever before, and with the right support, even more smokers can be part of that positive trend.

“We’re urging people to make this a New Year’s resolution that they stick to, and we know that using our free, expert-led advice will help them do that. Public Health Wales wants to help people live longer, healthier lives.”

Find out details about how to sign up to Help me Quit here: Help Me Quit