New Zealand: Kiwi Teens Turn Their Backs on Cigarettes

Source from:  NZCity (nz)  10/08/2014

Kiwi teenagers are snubbing cigarettes in droves, with a record low of 13 per cent of adolescents now addicted to nicotine.

The results of the New Zealand Health Survey released at the Population Health Congress in Auckland this week show the nation is on target to go smokefree by 2025.

Just 18 per cent of adults now smoke, down from 25 per cent recorded in 1997, a drop the Ministry of Health researchers celebrate as a "significant win".

But the largest relative drop was seen among 15 to 19 year olds. Just 13 per cent now smoke compared to 20 per cent in 2006.

Teenagers were now older when they had their first cigarette and were less likely to take up the habit at all compared with their counterparts in previous decades.

There was also a jump in successful quitters, from eight per cent in 2006 to 11 per cent in 2012/13.

The results, to be published later this month, were collated from a survey of 13,000 adults and the caregivers of 4000 children.

Lead researcher Dr Sainimere Boladuadua, from the ministry's Health and Disability Intelligence Group, said the country had made "significant progress" with smoking rates in the past 30 years.

Tobacco tax, mass media campaigns and quit smoking programmes have successfully driven down smoking rates to one of the lowest worldwide.

This puts the country on track to reach the goal of lowering smoking rates and tobacco availability to below five per cent by 2025, essentially making New Zealand a smoke free nation, she said.

But the researchers warn that continued work is needed to reduce disparities in tobacco-related health problems among Maori and Pacific people, who have high smoking rates.

The crackdown on cigarettes will continue in coming years, with tobacco tax rising further, more targeted quit programmes to be announced and the government working to phase out all retail tobacco sales. Enditem