Smokefree Pasifika

Tuatua Tika: Straight talk about Pacific Peoples and Smoking 2010
(Click the icon to download the report, 3.2 MB)

Introduction to the Executive Summary

Tobacco consumption and second-hand smoke are linked with a range of deadly diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and reproductive effects. Pacific peoples are disproportionately affected by these diseases with one in three Pacific adults in New Zealand smoking. Pacific communities and NGO providers have requested up-to-date information on Pacific smoking to help inform their collective response to the elimination of smoking from the Pacific population. The Tuatua Tika Report has been developed to ensure that Pacific communities, health professionals working with Pacific peoples and the tobacco control sector has access to appropriate, relevant and the most recent Pacific tobacco control information. This report examines the state of tobacco within New Zealand’s Pacific population and covers the following themes:

• Health impacts of tobacco consumption
• Smoking prevalence
• Types of tobacco consumed
• Pacific youth smoking rates
• Second-hand smoke exposure
• Smoking cessation service access and quitting smoking
• Regional patterns of Pacific tobacco use
• International data on Pacific tobacco use and tobacco cessation support available in New Zealand