Tala Pasifika praise drop in Pacific youth smoking

Tala Pasifika praise drop in Pacific youth smoking

Tala Pasifika is celebrating new figures which show daily smoking rates in Year 10 Pacific students have dropped by 2.6 percent.

The data comes from the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Year 10 Snapshot Survey which shows a decline from 6.4 in 2012, to 3.8 percent in 2013.

Programme Manager for Tala Pasifika Edward Cowley says the drop in youth smoking is something for the whole Pacific community to celebrate.

“We congratulate our young people, who make up almost half of the total Pacific population, for choosing a healthier future for them and their families.”

“Fewer young Pacific people taking up smoking means we will have fewer Pacific tobacco related deaths in the future,” he says.

This news, together with the introduction plain packaging of tobacco and further increases in tobacco taxes, makes the goal of a smokefree New Zealand in 2025 a lot more achievable, says Mr Cowley.

“Pacific youth are obviously not being attracted to light up which is a good sign that the appeal of smoking is not cool in Pacific youth culture. This is something Tala Pasifika welcomes as we move towards a smokefree New Zealand.”

Tala Pasifika - the National Pacific Tobacco Control Service was launched in November 2009 to provide Pacific peoples with a mechanism to provide input and advice into policy development processes and to enhance Pacific leadership on tobacco issues.

www.talapasifika.org.nz

ENDS

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