“Tobacco smoking is the most preventable cause of ill health and early death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,”
“Forty-four per cent of Indigenous Australians aged 15 years and over smoke; more than double the smoking rate of the general population and causes one in five Indigenous deaths. A more results focussed programme will help us reduce indigenous smoking rates.”

Minister  Fiona Nash said.

Smoking is particularly an issue for specific groups, with 42 per cent of indigenous Australian adults now daily smokers

World No Tobacco Day reports (see below)

“We know that when provided appropriately targeted information and encouraged to lead the solutions, Indigenous people are responding in an overwhelmingly positive manner.  

But, while the decline of smoking is encouraging, we need to be sure we don’t become complacent.  

The challenge to reduce smoking or not take it up is immense and will require a sustained and well-funded effort to really make a difference for our people and close the healthy inequality gap

The key message from Tom Calma National Coordinator for Tackling Indigenous Smoking

Photos above and below : The successful Programme run by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) Melbourne

The Coalition Government’s redesigned Tackling Indigenous Smoking Programme will further reduce smoking in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Applications from organisations who worked under the previous programme are currently being sought for the new, results based programme. Organisations who are currently funded will have funding extended during the Approach to Market process.

 

The redesigned programme follows a University of Canberra review of the old programme. The new programme was based on the review and on discussion with experts on tobacco control in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash said the redesigned programme focuses on results.

“Tobacco smoking is the most preventable cause of ill health and early death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Minister Nash said.

“Forty-four per cent of Indigenous Australians aged 15 years and over smoke; more than double the smoking rate of the general population and causes one in five Indigenous deaths.

“A more results focussed programme will help us reduce indigenous smoking rates.”

The new programme will build on the existing regional approach. Grant funding will be provided for regional activities that will reduce the number of people taking up smoking and encourage and support people to quit.

Grant funding will be provided for regional tobacco control activities, national support for workforce development, performance monitoring and evaluation, and leadership and coordination.

The redesigned programme will include a strong focus on accountability for delivering improvements in these areas.

Because local knowledge is always best, service providers will make decisions on how they tackle smoking in their region. New intensive tobacco control approaches will also be trialled through a number of pilot projects in communities with very high rates of smoking.

Funding will continue for enhancements to quit lines and training for frontline health and community workers who help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers.

WORLD No Tobacco Day is broadening its focus beyond health issues as Australian smoking rates reach their lowest recorded level. (From AAP) 

31 May marking of World No Tobacco Day, organised by the World Health Organisation and its partners, is also calling on countries to work together to end the illicit trade of tobacco products.

The illicit tobacco market may supply as many as one in 10 cigarettes consumed globally, studies suggest, and is a concern not just from a health view as it allows criminal groups to amass great wealth to finance other activities.

Smoking continues to be Australia’s single largest preventable cause of premature death and disease, says Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash. This is though daily smoking rates are the lowest ever – at 12.8 per cent for people 14 years or older, down from 17.5 per cent in 2004.

Smoking is particularly an issue for specific groups, with 42 per cent of indigenous Australian adults now daily smokers

. TOBACCO FACTS FROM WHO – Nearly six million people die each year from smoking – More than 600,000 of these are non-smokers breathing second-hand smoke – Fatality rate will grow to eight million people a year by 2030 without action – More than 80 per cent of these deaths will be among people in low- to middle-income countries

FIRST job, first love and first cigarette — while smoking rates have plunged across the state, new figures show young people are still choosing to light up.

Experts claim plain packaging, smoking bans and price increases are having a major impact, but more needs to be done to stop ­tobacco companies encouraging younger generations to start a habit.

The NSW government will today release a NSW Health population survey which reveals smoking rates have stabilised after a dramatic decline over 12 years.

The report, to be released on World No Tobacco Day, comes ahead of the ­implementation of the latest phase of the state’s smoking bans with restrictions on outdoor dining from July 6.

The figures show about one in six people in NSW were smoking last year compared with one in five in 2002.

Across the age groups, girls aged 16 to 24 years represented the biggest group of smokers and young men aged 25-34.

Smoking rates dropped in both groups from 26.8 per cent of the population in 2002 down to 16.4 per cent in 2012 before rising slightly over the past two years to 18.6 per cent.

The next biggest groups of smokers were females aged 55 to 64 years, while among men those still lighting up were aged 35 to 44 years.

Smokers tended to live in far western and south-western Sydney, with residents in the northern suburbs the least likely to have a habit.

Sydney University School of Public Health research fellow Dr Becky Freeman said most smokers tended to be young as it was historically part of the rite of passage from teenager to adulthood.

Further efforts needed to be focused on younger people who remained the key focus of clever tobacco company campaigns, she said.

Dr Freeman highlighted the Peter Stuyvesant + Loosie product, which offered the “gimmick” of an extra cigarette in its pack of 20, which appealed to cash-poor teens.

“We know plain packaging, smoking bans and price increases are working, but ­tobacco companies are still recruiting marketing people, they are still offering retailers inducements to carry their products, and they are coming up with products attractive to young people such as the Loosie,” she said.

Dr Freeman said measures to stop young people from taking up smoking could ­include regulating how many cigarette vendors there were in a suburb in the same way bottle shops were controlled.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said bans ­restricting smoking from within four metres of a pedestrian entry or exit from a hospitality venue were ­expected to be embraced by the community.

Smokers disobeying the “four metre law” will face ­on-the-spot fines of $300, with $5500 for business owners.