"December's normally a quieter month but it's been unusually busy this month."
Whaiora had been helping people to quit through its group, "All Together Quit", and with one-on-one quit coaches using the Aukati KaiPaipa programme - an eight-week intensive programme where a quit coach uses nicotine replacement therapies, support and advice.
"Evidence says that support and using nicotine replacement therapy is a lot more successful than just going cold turkey."
Whaiora was bracing for an influx of more trying to kick the habit in January following a raft of New Year resolutions. "January's always a busy month."
The progress in reducing national smoking rates is the result of wide-ranging initiatives including public education campaigns, advertising restrictions, tax increases, health warnings and more smoke-free environments.
Quitline spokeswoman Jane MacPherson said whenever tax increases took effect, the helpline recorded a spike in calls.
With New Year fast approaching, the service was bracing for an increase in resolution-based calls and had rostered more staff on in anticipation.
"Times are tough for many smokers, there are the tobacco tax increases and there is a mounting pressure to quit from a social perspective.
"Tax increases do hurt smokers and in many regards it as a good thing because then they re-evaluate for their health and for their families.
"They can literally save thousands of dollars a year if they quit," Ms MacPherson said.
Retail displays of cigarettes were banned from July 23 this year.
A series of tax rises - with the next 10 per cent rise set for January 1 - have made New Zealand cigarettes among the most expensive in the OECD.
The Government has set a goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by 2025 and is considering further steps to stop the promotion of tobacco products, including abolishing duty free sales, licensing retailers and banning sales within a kilometre of schools.
The Health Ministry received 293 individual submissions on a proposal to force tobacco into plain packaging. The Cabinet is expected to make a decision on the proposal early next year.
Research shows tobacco control initiatives, including the introduction of smoke-free workplace laws in 2003, are impacting on smokers.
The prevalence of smoking in New Zealand was 35 per cent in 1983. Now, according to provisional data from the most recent New Zealand Health Survey - about 17 per cent of people aged 15 years and older are daily smokers.
Smoking-related mortality is the single most preventable cause of premature death in New Zealand. Each year from 4500 to 5000 people die from smoking-related causes, including second-hand-smoke exposure.
Maori females are more than twice as likely to be current smokers as other females. APNZ
