Mumbai, May 30, 2017: Fifty-two per cent of men and women who used to smoke, said that they felt healthier after giving up the habit. Another 53 per cent, backed by a majority of females said, that it was not a difficult task to quit smoking.
These were the key findings of a survey conducted on 1,500 former smokers by ICICI Lombard in the week following up to ‘World No Tobacco Day’ on May 31.
The nationwide survey, a part of ICICI Lombard’s brand campaign and wellness programme — #DoTheDifficult — revealed many interesting facts. While a mere 19 per cent of the respondents gave up smoking because of the rising cost in cigarettes, 43 per cent said they kicked the habit due to family pressure.
Among other findings, 32 per cent of the respondents managed to stay off tobacco by keeping themselves busy, including taking up new hobbies; 22 per cent avoided trigger areas that tempted them to smoke; 20 per cent started out with a ‘Quit smoking plan’, and 10 per cent used nicotine patches to give up the habit.
Most of the respondents, who began smoking 10-12 years ago, blamed hectic work schedules for smoking and consumed as many as 10-12 cigarettes a day.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) observes May 31 as ‘World No Tobacco Day’. This year, the theme is ‘Tobacco – a threat to development’ which will demonstrate the serious threat the tobacco industry poses to the sustainable development of nations and the health and economic wellbeing of their citizens.
Through its wellness campaign, ICICI Lombard will spread greater awareness about the hazards of smoking, and honor those who managed to #DoTheDiffcult by giving up smoking.
Sanjay Datta, Chief – Underwriting, Claims & Reinsurance, ICICI Lombard, said, “Smoking as a habit is not only harmful for the smoker but also for the passive smoker. Our survey highlights the serious health risks of using tobacco and urges smokers to give up the habit and lead a healthier lifestyle. We are pleased to see that more than 50 per cent of those who kicked the bud are feeling healthier than before.”
Mr. Datta further cited an interesting trend of 42 percent of respondents who had a health insurance policy had opted a critical illness cover to secure them from risks associated with this habit.
About ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd
ICICI Lombard GIC Ltd. is a joint venture between ICICI Bank Limited and Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited; a Canada-based diversified financial services company engaged in general insurance, reinsurance, insurance claims management and investment management. ICICI Lombard GIC Ltd. is one of the leading private sector general insurance companies in India with a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of Rs 83.07 billion for the year ended March 31, 2016. The company issued over 15.80 million policies and settled over 1.62 million claims as on March 31, 2016.
ICICI Lombard has been recently accredited with the latest ISO 9001:2015 certification for Quality Management in Policy issuance, banking, commission payout, agent licensing, logistics management, record management, claims processing, branch operations, customer support, and training & development. The Company has been declared the ‘Most Innovative Health Insurance Company of the Year’ at ‘The 2016 Frost & Sullivan India Best Practices Awards’. It has also been conferred with the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Best Award 2016 for the fourth time. ICICI Lombard has won the ‘Claim Service Leader’ (General Insurance – Large category) and ‘Technology Innovation’ Awards at the Indian Insurance Awards, 2016. The company received the ‘Claim Service Leader’ award for its excellent track record in claim settlement across product segments. It was given the ‘Technology Innovation’ recognition for its technology driven initiatives especially the ‘RiskInspect’ App, a mobile application developed to capture risk information of low sum insured property risk. ICICI Lombard General Insurance has been adjudged the ‘Non-life Insurer of the Year’ at the coveted Outlook Money Awards, 2015. Non-life Insurance as a category has been included for the first time at the Outlook Money awards, which were introduced more than a decade ago. It is a matter of pride that ICICI Lombard has been chosen as the Winner in the introductory year of the award category. ICICI Lombard General Insurance has been conferred the coveted ‘Golden Peacock Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2015’. The award recognizes the company for it continuous contribution to CSR and especially for its ‘Caring Hands’ initiative, an employee volunteering CSR program. ICICI Lombard was adjudged the award ‘Golden Peacock Innovation Management Award, 2015’ for demonstrating innovation across multiple functions of its business operations and promoting the ‘culture of innovation’.
More details are available on the website www.icicilombard.com
