I tōna tikanga, ko te tau 2025 te tau ka whakamanahia ngā ture auahi kore i Aotearoa, engari auare ake.
I te tau 2011, i whāia e te Kāwanatanga o taua wā kia noho ‘auahi kore’ ai a Aotearoa hei te tau 2025.
Heoi anō, i te Maehe o te tau 2024, i whakakorea e te Kāwanatanga Haumi ngā ture auahi kore.
E ai ki te mātanga mate warawara, ki a Rebecca Ruwhiu-Collins, ko te mate tūpeka tērā kua roa e patua ana te tangata.
“Unfortunately, it’s a product that has continued over many years and generations as a normal product. And that has just kept permeating for generations to the point that it was harming whānau.“
“We have lost generations of people to this product.“
Stats trending downwards
Ruwhiu-Collins says Aotearoa’s daily smoking rates have decreased significantly since 2011, falling from 16.4% in 2011 to 6.9% today.
She says this could be attributed to many things, including legislation changes, national smoke-free campaigns and medicines, nicotine replacement therapy, and more recently, vaping.
But is this goal attainable? Ruwhiu-Collins believes it’s likely for non-Māori and non-Pacific populations.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to have that for our Māori and our Pacific populations,” she adds.
Last year, smoking rates among Māori women were 14.7% and 14.4% among Māori men.
Locals continue to battle for a Smokefree Aotearoa
Te Tai Rāwhiti health provider, Turanga Health, has taken a community-focused approach to tackle tobacco addictions in their rohe, despite the Government’s plan to do away with Smokefree legislation.
Earlier this year, Turanga Health held drive-through registrations for its Smokefree Challenge, designed to help tobacco users kick the habit for good.
The course connects participants with a smoking cessation coach and provides nicotine replacement therapies.
Smokefree 2025!Join our 7-week Stop Smoking Challenge! 🚭 If you’re registered or want to sign up, swing by the drive-thru at Gisborne Railway Station today from 5 to 6 p.m. Let’s take this journey together—see you there!
Posted by Turanga Health on Sunday, January 12, 2025
There are 43 whānau on the challenge, with 60 more expressing interest.
“We have to be flexible around how we deliver and [the] methods that we take to support them,” says Turanga Health’s Dallas Poi.
“It’s a lifeline for some whānau, so you’re really getting into the audience who are hard to change, who are hard to shift. [That’s] a journey in itself for whānau [and] one that won’t happen overnight.”
Turanga Health has proposed alternative activities for participants, such as gym memberships and mirimiri.
‘Ka nui tēnā-Enough is enough.’
E ai ki ngā tatauranga a Te Whatu Ora, e 5,000 ngā tāngata ka mate i te kai tūpeka i ia tau.
Ko tā Ruwhiu-Collins, e ao te whakareanga auahi kore, ā, ka mihi atu ia ki a Kahurangi Tariana Turia, tētahi o ngā tino kaikōkiri o tēnei kaupapa.
“Her legacy won’t stop.”
“So we have a smoke-free generation happening, and that just makes your heart sing. Mokopuna decisions are happening, and they’re making those changes.”
