Smokefree goal all smoke but no fire

The likelihood of New Zealand becoming smokefree by 2025 appears to be lessening as the deadline creeps closer.

As part of an ongoing study, a team of University of Otago researchers has found that to achieve the Government’s Smokefree 2025 goal – to see fewer than 5 per cent of the population smoke in 2025 – there would need to be five times as many Ma¯ ori quitting per year and twice as many non-Ma¯ ori.

The latest research, published today in the New Zealand Medical Journal, suggests that on top of current rates, 17,000 more people need to quit smoking every year until 2025.

Professor Nick Wilson from the university’s Department of Public Health estimated that current techniques such as Quitline and funded face-to-face smoking cessation services were currently only generating 2000 Ma¯ ori and 6100 non-Ma¯ ori long-term quitters a year.

While the number of people quitting was increasing, he said much more needed to be done promptly to achieve the 2025 goal.

‘‘The ministry and the health sector will really have to massively increase cessation support alongside other things like running mass media campaigns.

‘‘We are making progress but it is slow, especially for Ma¯ ori,’’ Wilson said.

The Government first adopted the Smokefree 2025 goal in 2011 in response to the recommendations of a landmark Parliamentary inquiry by the Ma¯ ori Affairs select committee.

Wilson said while 2018 had seen improvements with standardised packaging and further tax increases, it simply wasn’t enough.

‘‘Our concern was that the other options are not really being discussed so if you really want to get to Smokefree 2025 you need to know what the size of the gap is and what we’re doing already to get us there.

‘‘The Government doesn’t even have a published plan for getting to 2025 . . . you can’t get anywhere without a plan.’’

Wilson acknowledged that while the Government’s focus on other issues such as child poverty and housing were admirable, meeting the smokefree goal would help, rather than hinder those fights with families and individuals frequently ending up with more money after quitting.

‘‘Reducing smoking is way easier than dealing with obesity [and] child poverty. It’s one highly addictive product but we have the tools to reduce it.’’

He said new approaches, such as promoting low-nicotine products or encouraging a switch to vaping or e-cigarettes could both prove helpful in the fight, as well as pouring more money into anti-smoking campaigns and support programmes.

‘‘The ministry and the health sector will really have to massively increase cessation support alongside other things like running mass media campaigns.’’ Professor Nick Wilson