May 06, 2024
Quit services best choice in May Smokefree Month
A public health expert is urging smokers to use International Smokefree Month to try to quit the addiction.
Professor Hayden McRobbie, the Auckland and Northland director of the National Public Health Service, says 17 percent of Māori are still regularly lighting up, compared with an overall rate of 6.8 percent – half what it was 10 years ago.
He says there are now plenty of free and non-judgemental quitting services to revive your health, wallet and whānau.
“Use this month to give quitting a go. We’ve got a whole range of options and I know you might think ‘do I really need to use a stop smoking service to help me quit?’ It’s not that you have to. It’s just that it’s going to make the journey a lot easier,” Professor McRobbie says.
The long term benefits of quitting smoking will outweigh its temporary role as a stress coping mechanism.