In the past year alone hundreds of people have either become blood donors, joined the bone marrow register or stopped smoking through The News.
The run-up to the ban on smoking in enclosed or partially enclosed public places last July saw more than 400 readers sign up to an NHS quit programme in a bid to kick the habit.
The month-long I'm A Quitter campaign involved running daily stories on readers who vowed to stop smoking, a roll of honour for quitters and daily quit tips.
Smokers were also offered advice on the best stop smoking aid for them and a smokefree zone was created online for potential quitters.
Working with Portsmouth City Teaching and Hampshire primary care trusts people were also offered vouchers for quit aids such as nicotine patches and chewing gum.
Portsmouth City Teaching Primary Care Trust stop smoking service co-ordinator Pam Recknell smoked 20-a-day for 40 years.
She said: 'The campaign worked really well.
'We had lots of referrals to the pharmacies which really helped – the more referrals we get, the more chance we have of getting people to quit.
'On the whole it was fantastic.
'Anything that gets people into the NHS stop smoking service has got to be a good thing.
'It definitely had an impact on the number of people signing up to stop smoking.'
Deputy director of public health and wellbeing Imogen Stephens said: 'The campaign was a good idea. The more awareness raising we can do the better.
'We need more and more of that kind of intelligent coverage that helps the NHS as well as the media – and more of this kind of proactive reporting.'