The New Zealand government's Smokefree 2025 action plan is "frustratingly ambiguous", according to the Maori Public Health says. Photo:
The New Zealand government's Smokefree 2025 action plan is "frustratingly ambiguous" in its details concerning the "priority populations" of Māori and Pacific peoples, Māori Public Health says.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced the plan last month, stating that the government hopes to get around 80,000 people quit smoking next year.
"We have achieved those numbers previously so yeah, I think we can," she said in a news conference unveiling the plan on 27 November.
However, Māori Public Health Hāpai Te Hauora said the plan in its current state will not have the substantive impact that Māori and Pacific communities desperately need.
"The plan focuses on reducing smoking uptake, increasing quit attempts, improving access to quit support, and ensuring people remain smokefree. Putting these focuses into action will include intensifying social marketing, providing more incentivisation to quit, and working with the health sector to target referrals.
"However, the plan leaves the details concerning priority population focus frustratingly ambiguous," Māori Public Health said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said the importance of prioritising Māori and Pacific populations who are overrepresented in smoking statistics must be stressed.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced the plan late last month. Photo: Nick Monro/RNZ
The plan, in its current state, will not have the substantive impact that Māori and Pacific communities desperately need, it added.
Between 2011/12 and 2023/24, daily smoking among Māori dropped from 37.7 percent to 14.7 percent, and among Pacific peoples from 22.6 percent to 12.3 percent, according to data in Getting to Smokefree 2025 plan
Māori Public Health said based on this trend, by 2025, smoking rates for Māori would project to sit at around 11.8 percent and Pacific people around 11.0 percent - both well shy of the 5 percent goal.
The organisation's tobacco control manager Jasmine Graham said achieving the Smokefree 2025 goal will require "a detailed plan".
She said that actions would need to be targeted at Māori and Pacific populations to address the unacceptably high smoking rates and ensure that no one is left behind.