Already in October 2010 Māori health organisations raised concerns about the shocking toll tobacco use has in their communities. They found that overall people were smoking less, but more and more maori and pacific people were smoking.
As response the NZ government developed the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan. The plan features three radical interventions. One, called the smoke-free generation strategy, will make it illegal to ever sell combustible tobacco products to those born in 2009 or later. The goal is to create an ever-growing generation that never picks up the smoking habit. Together with two other policies, reducing nicotine content in tobacco to below addictive levels and less retail outlets selling tobacco, tobacco use would virtually end.
There are two issues: Vapes and Inequities. Daily smoking rates are in general at an all-time low but remain high for Māori. 34% of Māori teens aged 14 and 15-year vape regularly and The statistics are even higher for Māori girls of this age, with 40% vaping regularly.
Daniel spoke with associate professor Andrew Waa, Public Health researcher at the University of Otago, about these issues.
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