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Otago University researchers say for New Zealand to reach its goal of being a smokefree nation by 2025, more than 20 percent of Maori smokers need to quit the habit each year until then.
In a paper just published in the international journal Tobacco Control, a team led by Takoyishi Ikeda compared the target of getting smoking prevalence under 5 percent with the ethnicity of smokers.
They calculated that 10 percent of non-Maori and 20 percent of Maori should be stubbing out annually.
That will need sustained political effort and resources.
Co-author Tony Blakely says ideas for reaching the target will be presented at next week’s Smokefree Oceania Conference in Auckland.
They include large increases in tax on tobacco products, which has been shown to be effective in encouraging Maori to quit.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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