Pacific Homecare is encouraging people in our community to give up smoking this World Smokefree Day on 31 May. It’s all about celebrating and working towards smokefree/auahi kore lives for New Zealanders. This year’s theme is – ‘It’s about whanau’.
Whanau is a driving force for many people wishing to protect others from the harms of second-hand smoke. World Smokefree Day also provides an opportunity to encourage and help those who want to quit smoking and support friends and whanau on their quit journey.
Nearly 85% of New Zealanders are smokefree – that means most of us are choosing not to smoke.
Although 605,000 New Zealand adults still smoke, over 700,000 have given up smoking and more than 1.9 million New Zealanders have never smoked regularly.
Tobacco use and breathing in other people’s smoke (second-hand smoke) causes about 5,000 deaths every year through cancer, stroke and heart disease. It is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in New Zealand.
Second-hand smoke can make your eyes sore and give you headaches, coughs, sore throats, dizziness and make you feel sick.
But it can be much more serious than that. There is no safe level of exposure. Second-hand smoke increases your risk of:
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heart disease
lung cancer
stroke
nasal sinus cancer (cancer near and around the nose)
Children can get particularly sick if they breathe in second-hand smoke because their lungs are smaller and more delicate. They also often have no way of getting away from the smoke.
Being exposed to second-hand smoke can also affect children’s development and behaviour, and they can do less well at school and have trouble paying attention.
Children need to be protected from second-hand smoke because it can cause:
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middle ear infections, like glue ear
lung and breathing illness, like croup, bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia
asthma, and it can make asthma worse
lungs to grow more slowly
Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI or cot death)
Meningitis
Don’t wait, quit today!
More information
Smokefree NZ
