March 06, 2013
Waikato DHB steps up tobacco fight
Waikato District Health Board has placed a tūpeka kore kawenata on its public health offices in Central Hamilton, banning any tobacco products.
Ditre Tamatea, the manager of the board’s Te Puna Oranga Māori Health Service, says tikanga Māori can be a powerful force in creating a smoke free Aotearoa.
He says Te Puna Oranga is focusing on tobacco because smoking and tobacco related diseases result in the highest number of deaths for Māori.
Other initiatives include working with other services, Māori health providers and kura across the Waikato DHB region to promote the concept of tūpeka kore, providing support for hospital patients to quit, and distributing more than 1500 pepi-pods or safe sleep modules with smokefree and breastfeeding messages to high need whānau.
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