“South Australia is leading the nation in efforts to reduce smoking rates amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, according to data released by the Australia Bureau of Statistics.
The 2014-15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey shows a significant decrease in daily smoking rates in South Australia, down from 48.9 per cent in 2008 to 38.2 per cent in 2014/15.
SA leads the way in reducing Indigenous smoking rates
” If you’re pregnant or planning to be, ‘Quit for you – Quit for two’ provides support and encouragement to help you give up smoking.
It will take your mind off the cravings with fun exercises and games to keep your hands busy. It distracts you when you feel the urge to light up, with practical quit tips and advice. It inspires you to keep going with amazing facts about your baby’s development.
Download the free APP ‘Quit for you – Quit for two’ see article 2 below
“Aboriginal communities across Australia will benefit from a $2.26 million national grant awarded to University of Newcastle (UON) public health researchers for a culturally competent smoking cessation program focused on the health and wellbeing of pregnant Aboriginal women.
The study, called ‘Indigenous Counselling and Nicotine (ICAN) QUIT in Pregnancy’, was developed in collaboration with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services.
In Australia we have declining rates of smoking among pregnant women in general – the rate is currently around 10% – but with Aboriginal women the rate is up around 40% and there has been no decline,”
Professor Bonevski
$2.2 million grant for quit-smoking trial helping pregnant Aboriginal mums see Article 3 below
This decrease of 10.7 percentage points means South Australia now has one of the lowest daily smoking rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.
Background
Drug and Alcohol Services SA delivers an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander focussed program to tackle smoking.
This includes working in partnership with Aboriginal community controlled health services and a social marketing campaign called ‘Give up Smokes for Good’ featuring respected Aboriginal non-smoking ambassadors who deliver positive tobacco related health messages to their local communities.
Smoking data compiled by the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute shows that, across the whole South Australian population:
- The smoking rate among South Australians declined from 20.5% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2015
- Smoking among people aged 15 to 29 declined from 22.9% in 2010 to 16.9% in 2015
- Smoking among people with a mental illness declined from 34.5% in 2010 to 26% in 2015
Quotes attributable to Substance Abuse Minister Leesa Vlahos
This data shows that South Australia is leading the way nationally in the decline of daily smoking rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
While we know there is still more to do, our Closing the Gap initiatives are positively impacting smoking rates. These include our stop smoking support services and our ‘Give up Smokes for Good’ campaign.
There is still significant progress to be made to reduce the burden of disease from tobacco smoking in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but these recent figures show an encouraging trend.
‘Quit for you – Quit for two’ Article 2
If you’re pregnant or planning to be, ‘Quit for you – Quit for two’ provides support and encouragement to help you give up smoking.
It will take your mind off the cravings with fun exercises and games to keep your hands busy. It distracts you when you feel the urge to light up, with practical quit tips and advice. It inspires you to keep going with amazing facts about your baby’s development. And, it gives you ideas for what you could buy with the money you’re saving every day you don’t spend money on cigarettes.
You can even personalise the app with your details so that you get daily reminders and words of encouragement. Enter your due date and the app will automatically message you to let you know how your baby’s growing.
It’s a fun and really practical way to quit and stay smoke-free for the health of you and your baby.
Download the ‘Quit for you – Quit for Two’ app free on your iPhone or iPad from the Apple iTunes online store or for your android phone at Google Play store
$2.2 million grant for quit-smoking trial helping pregnant Aboriginal mums Article 3
Aboriginal communities across Australia will benefit from a $2.26 million national grant awarded to University of Newcastle (UON) public health researchers for a culturally competent smoking cessation program focused on the health and wellbeing of pregnant Aboriginal women.
The study, called ‘Indigenous Counselling and Nicotine (ICAN) QUIT in Pregnancy’, was developed in collaboration with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services.
With a four-year funding package announced yesterday under the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) scheme, the team led by Professor Billie Bonevski and Dr Gillian Gould will now collaborate with a larger group of around 30 Aboriginal health care services around the nation.
“In Australia we have declining rates of smoking among pregnant women in general – the rate is currently around 10% – but with Aboriginal women the rate is up around 40% and there has been no decline,” Professor Bonevski said.
“A lot of tobacco control measures in Australia have, until recently, been targeted at non-Aboriginal Australians whereas the (ICAN) QUIT in Pregnancy resources have been specifically developed to be a health promotion platform for Aboriginal communities as they draw on the knowledge and expertise of the community.
“They are grounded in culturally appropriate material and Aboriginal people deliver the smoking cessation support. From a cultural perspective this is very important.
“During the first phase of the study our quit smoking resources were pre-tested with Aboriginal women, elders and health professionals in three States. They received very favorable responses, are were thought to reflect the diversity of Aboriginal peoples in Australia,” Dr Gillian Gould said.
The NHMRC grant will enable researchers to provide full training and resources to staff at half of the health services involved in the trial, with the other half serving as a control group so that program outcomes can be effectively evaluated.
Under the trial, health data such as baby birth weight and lung health will also be collected by Professor Jorge Mattes and Laureate Professor Roger Smith AM from the UON’s GrowUpWell and Mothers and Babies research centres to highlight the benefit of quitting for the newborn child.
Professor Bonevski and Dr Gould research in conjunction with HMRI’s Public Health program. Pilot research was funded by the Hunter Cancer Research Alliance and the NSW Ministry for Health. Dr Gould also has fellowship funding from the NHMRC and Cancer Institute of NSW.