February 22, 2017
Rotorua gets serious on Smokefree 2025
A Rotorua Maori public health advocate is backing a move to gradually increase the number of smokefree spaces in the sulphur city.
From this week, smoking is banned in bus shelters, library surrounds, stadiums, sports grounds and council-controlled reserves and parks,
Next year the ban will be extended to outdoor paved eating places, markets, and the entrances to public buildings.
Mapihi Raharuhi from Healthy Families Rotorua says it’s vital to prevent the uptake of smoking in future generations if New Zealand it reach the target of being smokefree by 2025.
She says more than 40 percent of Maori women still smoke.
"When you put that in the context of our population, what we are doing here in Rotorua in terms of the first steps to progress Smokefree 2025, I think we are definitely on target to make small steps in a way of providing a smokefree generation," says Mapihi Raharuhi.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH MAPIHI RAHARUHI
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