Minister meets Stop Smoking providers to drive Smokefree

Associate Health Minister Casey Costello is meeting with all of the country’s frontline stop smoking service providers this week to ensure New Zealand reaches the Smokefree 2025 goal.

The regional meetings start in Wellington today and will then be held in, Christchurch (Wednesday), Rotorua (Thursday) and Auckland (Friday).

“The forums will feed into a comprehensive plan to increase the numbers of people quitting smoking and achieve Smokefree 2025,” Ms Costello says.

“New Zealand has seen some of the largest drops in smoking rates across the world in recent years and we want to build on the practical tools and approaches that have worked to date.”

The NZ Health Survey results released in December last year showed that 55,000 smokers quit in the year to June 2023 and the daily smoking rate was down to 6.8 per cent from 8.6 per cent the previous year, and 16.4 per cent in 2011/12 when the survey began. If those trends continue, New Zealand will hit the headline Smokefree goal of less than 5 per cent of the population smoking daily by 2025.

“The stop smoking service providers are integral to supporting the Smokefree targets,” Ms Costello says. “Data shows that people are around four times more likely to quit smoking by using a stop smoking service, than by trying on their own.

“The providers are the people who know their communities and how we can best target resources to where they’re most needed, particularly in areas and populations with higher smoking rates.

“The coalition Government is committed to improving health outcomes. We want to provide smokers with the information, tools and support to quit and the meetings with providers this week will inform the refreshed Smokefree Action plan.”