Signs of North's smokefree future

Northland teenagers are turning away from tobacco.
The number who have never smoked doubled in the past decade, even though more of their parents are smoking.
But smoking also continues to be a dying habit, killing up to an estimated 4500 people in New Zealand annually.
An ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey released this week shows the percentage of the 1188 Northland students aged 14-15 assessed who smoked daily dropped from 18.5 per cent in 2000 to 6.1 per cent last year.
In the same period, the number of Northland youngsters who had never smoked increased from 27.9 to 55.3 per cent, despite parental smoking rising from 47.4 per cent of surveyed students' homes in 2001 to 48.6 per cent last year.
Northland District Health Board Smokefree co-ordinator Bridget Rowse said the survey results were great news for Northland and everyone working within Smokefree services.
Northland's Year 10 smoking rates were now ranked 12th of the 21 district health boards, whereas in previous years the region had some of the worst rates.
Boards with percentages of daily smokers higher than Northland (6.1) last year were Counties Manukau (6.2), Lakes (6.5), Bay of Plenty (6.8), Tairawhiti (7), Hawke's Bay (6.9), Whanganui (11), Hutt Valley (8.9), West Coast (10.4).
"Historically, we have been near to, if not at the bottom," Ms Rowse said.
But while young people in Northland should be very pleased with what they were achieving, she warned there was no room for complacency if New Zealand was to become a smokefree nation by 2025.
It is estimated that smoking plays a role in nearly half of Maori deaths in Northland and is a major factor in the huge difference of 14.9 years in life expectancy between Maori and non-Maori.
The number of men over 35 with deaths attributed to smoking had dropped steadily from an annual peak of 3500 in 1980 to about 2225 in 2005, but the number of women in the same category had doubled to almost 2000 in the same period and smoking-related diseases remain a significant cost in the health sector.
The ASH survey has run annually since 1999. The 1188 Northlanders in the 2010 survey were among more than 32,000 students aged 14-15 surveyed nationally, making it one of the largest youth smoking surveys in the world.
As seen in earlier surveys, the highest prevalence of smoking nationally was reported by Maori girls, and by students from low-decile schools. Almost one in five Maori girls smoke daily (17.4 per cent), compared to fewer than one in 20 Pakeha girls (3.3 per cent).
However, the proportion of Maori girls who report they have never smoked continues to increase, up from 18.1 per cent in 2005 to 34 per cent last year.
Since the last survey in 2009, the Government has increased tax on tobacco, improved access to stop-smoking services and proposed a ban on tobacco displays in shops.