Latest news with #NewZealandHealthSurvey
Scoop
18-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
'The Inequities Aren't Closing' - Māori Still A Long Way From Smokefree 2025 Goal
The Smokefree 2025 goal is only months away, but Māori smokefree advocates are concerned that Māori smoking rates have remained more than double that of the general population. The advocates say a 'business as usual' approach from the government - which shifts the responsibility to quit smoking onto individuals - is not going to get the country there. The annual New Zealand Health Survey showed that in 2023/24 about 300,000 adults - 6.9 percent - were daily smokers. The aim of the Smokefree 2025 is to have less than 5 percent of the population smoking by December. That is already a tough ask, but for Māori daily smoking rates were two times higher at 14.7 percent - although that had declined from 30.4 percent over the past five years. Anaru Waa, the interim chair of Te Roopu Tupeka Kore, the Māori Tobacco Control network, said Māori smoking rates were still trending down. But he was worried they will plateau, with the latest Health Survey suggesting this is happening across the board. "I'm not optimistic, I think we're no closer than we were a few years ago, I'm hugely concerned about how the reductions in smoking have seemed to have stopped... and I'm hugely concerned about the vaping," he said. Waa said the country was not on track to achieve the Smokefree 2025 goal. The goal was to get everybody below the 5 percent mark - not some people ahead of everyone else, he said. "The trends are going in the wrong direction and... the inequities aren't closing like we wanted." Longtime tobacco control campaigner Shane Bradbrook said Māori people were not to blame - it was the tobacco industry's fault. "The industry is back in alignment again politically, so it sets the kaupapa back, but I think we still have that energy and passion to make sure that we reach a goal of being tupeka kore (smokefree)." Bradbrook - along with then-Māori Party MPs Hone Harawira and Tariana Turia - led the charge towards the Smokefree 2025 goal at the 2010 Māori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry. Following the inquiry in 2011, the government agreed to the goal for New Zealand to be smokefree by 2025. Other countries are currently adopting the same measures and policies that Māori wanted and thought they had already won, Bradbrook said. "Absolutely we are going backwards, I mean it's 2025. We led the fight to the Māori Affairs Select Committee, we got the report done, we got the recommendations sorted, but largely its been undone by successive governments that have terrible in terms of continuing on that policy legacy for our people," he said. Waa said the goal of tupeka kore (smokefree) led by Turia and Harawira shifted away from what he described as the 'business as usual' approach to tobacco control which had operated previously, which had only perpetuated inequities in smoking rates. This shifted the problem from one of individuals to a societal one, which required structural change to address, he said. That was what the legislation brought in by the last Labour government was aimed at, he said. "It was a game changer, it wasn't business as usual, it was making tobacco non-addictive, it was hugely reducing its access and creating a smokefree generation, that's totally different to what we've had. "So we would have got our goal maybe not this year, but certainly next year, but this government saw otherwise and repealed it, now we're back to square one, in fact we're still fighting that plus the vaping epidemic." Waa said vaping had not done much to reduce smoking rates among rangatahi (young people), in fact he said the majority of rangatahi who vape now have never smoked cigarettes. "I really resist that idea that people take up vapes because they would have otherwise smoked, I think that's wrong they would have quit anyway and it's called a false base rate fallacy. Vapes themselves have been around since 2010, but we've really seen their impacts since 2015 and particularly since 2018." About 480,000 adults (11.1 percent) were daily vapers in 2023/24, up slightly from 9.7 percent the previous year. The highest daily vaping rates were in Māori (28.8 percent), Pacific peoples (21.5 percent), and young people aged 18-24 years (26.5 percent). Waa said while he was pessimistic about Smokefree 2025, he remained very optimistic about Māori and the fact that there were still people out in the communities and willing to do the work which had carried Māori tobacco control through all these years. Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon said the challenge was now on her and her colleagues in Parliament to decide on the next legislative steps to take on tobacco. "I'm a mother of the Smokefree generation lost and thinking of my baby born in 2009. I was excited for what the future might bring, but with the repeal of the legislation I was gutted." Lyndon said she was looking forward to the discussion around what Smokefree 2026 2.0 could be. Government 'committed to the Smokefree targets' Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said the number of Māori smokers and Māori smoking rates have decreased dramatically in the past few years. "Historically, Māori smoking rates were very high and the gains are from that higher starting point, but in the last five years, for example, 95,000 Māori have stopped smoking and the smoking rate has dropped by 52 percent." Māori and wahine Māori in particular have benefited from using vapes, which are a much safer product, to stop smoking, she said. "Clearly, we want to do more - the government is committed to the Smokefree targets and has an action plan in place that among other things, specifically targets those populations where there are higher smoking rates. Our stop smoking providers are also very attuned to working with Māori and what approaches work for getting Māori whanau and communities to think about quitting. I'm meeting with providers again next week to talk through these issues. "There's a misconception about what our problem is, however - most smokers are older and have been smoking for some time, so they need help to quit and that's what we're focused on. "When the Health Survey, which is what we use to measure smoking rates, started in 2012 there were 119,000 young - as in 18- to 24-year-old - smokers. Last year there were 19,000. For under 18s, the smoking rate is 0.6 percent - that's hugely different from when I was a teenager. Our young people aren't smoking and don't want to smoke and that's great news."
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Budget 2025 – What Vote Health Needs Just To Stay Afloat
Press Release – Association of Salaried Medical Specialists 'Year on year specialists in our public hospitals are being asked to do more and more,' says ASMS policy director Harriet Wild. Budget 2025 will need to include $2 billion in additional operational funding this year just for the public health system to stand still. 'Year on year specialists in our public hospitals are being asked to do more and more,' says ASMS policy director Harriet Wild. 'If we do not see this level of investment as a minimum it just means the Government is choosing to dig their own hole that much deeper. Again in 12-months' time they will gamble on the future of our public health system again, knowing they have made the odds that much worse.' Two billion dollars is the increase required to meet health cost pressures (which run higher than general inflation) including changes in pricing, volumes, and inflation, as well as the increased need created by a growing and ageing population. New Zealand's population is growing by 1.3% annually. New Zealand's population is also ageing. Almost three-quarters of total life-long healthcare costs occur in the last three years of life. Census data shows 1 in 6 people were aged 65 and older in 2023, this is projected to be 1 in 5 by 2033. The need for hospital-based acute care is also increasing. Acute discharges in public hospital increased by 28% between 2014 and 2023. Almost 1.3 million people attended an Emergency Department in 2022/23, a 22.5% increase since 2013/14. Over the same period, the population increased by 16%. Two billion dollars will not remedy decades of underfunding of New Zealand's health system. New Zealand's total health expenditure (public and private) as a proportion of GDP has remained well below comparable countries for many years. Prior to Covid-19, New Zealand spent 9% of GDP on health, while countries including Australia, Canada, The Netherlands and Sweden spent an average 10.7%. The New Zealand Health Survey shows significant volume of unmet health need also remains in our community, with 1.86 million adults experiencing an unmet need for dental care due to cost. 464,000 adults have an unmet need for mental health or addiction services – an increase of 3.3% since 2023. While investing in primary care will make people healthier overall, it will also generate more cost for our hospitals as unmet need for secondary care is identified by those primary care providers. $1.43 billion was allocated to meet health sector cost pressures (demographic changes, price and wage increases) in the 2023-4 Budget. However, when appearing before health select committee during Scrutiny Week in March 2024, Te Whatu Ora officials acknowledged this fell short of what was required.
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Budget 2025 - What Vote Health Needs Just To Stay Afloat
Budget 2025 will need to include $2 billion in additional operational funding this year just for the public health system to stand still. "Year on year specialists in our public hospitals are being asked to do more and more," says ASMS policy director Harriet Wild. "If we do not see this level of investment as a minimum it just means the Government is choosing to dig their own hole that much deeper. Again in 12-months' time they will gamble on the future of our public health system again, knowing they have made the odds that much worse." Two billion dollars is the increase required to meet health cost pressures (which run higher than general inflation) including changes in pricing, volumes, and inflation, as well as the increased need created by a growing and ageing population. New Zealand's population is growing by 1.3% annually. New Zealand's population is also ageing. Almost three-quarters of total life-long healthcare costs occur in the last three years of life. Census data shows 1 in 6 people were aged 65 and older in 2023, this is projected to be 1 in 5 by 2033. The need for hospital-based acute care is also increasing. Acute discharges in public hospital increased by 28% between 2014 and 2023. Almost 1.3 million people attended an Emergency Department in 2022/23, a 22.5% increase since 2013/14. Over the same period, the population increased by 16%. Two billion dollars will not remedy decades of underfunding of New Zealand's health system. New Zealand's total health expenditure (public and private) as a proportion of GDP has remained well below comparable countries for many years. Prior to Covid-19, New Zealand spent 9% of GDP on health, while countries including Australia, Canada, The Netherlands and Sweden spent an average 10.7%. The New Zealand Health Survey shows significant volume of unmet health need also remains in our community, with 1.86 million adults experiencing an unmet need for dental care due to cost. 464,000 adults have an unmet need for mental health or addiction services - an increase of 3.3% since 2023. While investing in primary care will make people healthier overall, it will also generate more cost for our hospitals as unmet need for secondary care is identified by those primary care providers. $1.43 billion was allocated to meet health sector cost pressures (demographic changes, price and wage increases) in the 2023-4 Budget. However, when appearing before health select committee during Scrutiny Week in March 2024, Te Whatu Ora officials acknowledged this fell short of what was required.
Scoop
06-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
New Charity Welcomes Private Bill To Set Minimum Age Of 16 To Access Social Media
Press Release – B4-16 A newly established charity dedicated to improving online safety for children is welcoming the Government's announcement this morning that a private member's bill has been introduced to set a minimum age of 16 to access social media. B4-16 (Before 16) is a non-partisan, independent group of parents, public health experts and business leaders who have been advocating for greater online protection for children, saying New Zealand is falling behind comparable countries in protecting children from online harm. Today's announcement follows Australia's groundbreaking move in November last year to introduce the world's first age restriction for under-16s on social media, requiring platforms to take 'reasonable steps' to prevent underage use. B4-16 is urging New Zealand policymakers to follow suit with a recent Horizon poll revealing 74% of adults support setting an age limit for social media access for children. 'Children need to be tech-savvy to thrive in today's digital world – digital literacy is 100% essential. But social media is a different beast. It's designed to be addictive, persuasive, and often exposes young minds to harmful content and pressures they're not developmentally ready to handle. 'Delaying access for children doesn't mean denying technology. It just means we're giving Kiwi kids time to build resilience, critical thinking, and emotional maturity before we open the gates to an environment that is built for adult engagement,' says B4-16 co-Chair Cecilia Robinson. While Australia, the UK, the EU and the US have introduced legislation to regulate social media and shield young people from online harm, New Zealand has not followed suit. Unlike Australia – which has an independent eSafety Commissioner with powers to investigate harm, enforce standards, and hold platforms accountable – New Zealand has no dedicated regulator. 'At the moment, we put Big Tech first. We need a system that puts our children first,' says Dr Samantha Marsh, a public health researcher with the University of Auckland, and B4-16 advisor. 'It's time for a truly independent regulatory body with the power to protect our children. Social media is harmful in a variety of ways, but particularly for young children. Education alone doesn't change behaviour – regulation is needed,' says Marsh. A growing body of international evidence shows that social media is a high-risk environment for children's mental health, emotional wellbeing, and cognitive development. 'At Outward Bound, I've seen first-hand the positive impact on teens' mental resilience when they step away from social media for days and weeks at a time. If we can protect growing brains and bodies for longer from addictive and harmful algorithms, we will be a better society for it. There is so much at stake,' said B4-16 's Malindi Maclean who is also tumuaki CEO of Outward Bound New Zealand. The Ministry of Health's latest New Zealand Health Survey revealed the number of 15–24 year olds in high or very high psychological distress increased by 400% for the eleven year period to 2023. Studies consistently link social media use with anxiety, depression, disordered eating, sleep disruption, and poor academic outcomes. In 2023, Youthline's State of the Generation Report found that 75% of young people believed mental health was the biggest issue they face, and half of all young people in Aotearoa said social media was a major issue for them. B416 says it's a complex issue which is too big for parents to manage on their own. 'We've got strong research showing social media is harmful, that it's structurally changing our children's brains – and it's doing it at scale,' said Marsh. 'It's a public health issue that requires regulation. New Zealand has laws to protect our children from smoking and alcohol and we need to do the same for social media.' A 2024 Horizon Research poll found that 74% of New Zealanders support a legal age restriction for social media, with 83% concerned about harmful and inappropriate content online. In its report, Meeting the Mental Health needs of young New Zealanders, the Office for the Auditor-General also raised concerns about rising levels of mental distress among young people aged 12-24. It estimated that mental illness costs New Zealand about 5% of gross domestic product annually – more than $20b. B4-16 says the campaign presents a clear opportunity for cross-party action and is seeking government-wide support for regulation. B4-16 is calling for: legislation to set a minimum age of 16 to access social media platforms the implementation of stronger 'age assurance' systems for age verification a dedicated online safety regulator who is responsible for protecting children and young people from online harm, and has enforceable powers
Scoop
05-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
New Charity Welcomes Private Bill To Set Minimum Age Of 16 To Access Social Media
A newly established charity dedicated to improving online safety for children is welcoming the Government's announcement this morning that a private member's bill has been introduced to set a minimum age of 16 to access social media. B4-16 (Before 16) is a non-partisan, independent group of parents, public health experts and business leaders who have been advocating for greater online protection for children, saying New Zealand is falling behind comparable countries in protecting children from online harm. Today's announcement follows Australia's groundbreaking move in November last year to introduce the world's first age restriction for under-16s on social media, requiring platforms to take 'reasonable steps' to prevent underage use. B4-16 is urging New Zealand policymakers to follow suit with a recent Horizon poll revealing 74% of adults support setting an age limit for social media access for children. 'Children need to be tech-savvy to thrive in today's digital world - digital literacy is 100% essential. But social media is a different beast. It's designed to be addictive, persuasive, and often exposes young minds to harmful content and pressures they're not developmentally ready to handle. 'Delaying access for children doesn't mean denying technology. It just means we're giving Kiwi kids time to build resilience, critical thinking, and emotional maturity before we open the gates to an environment that is built for adult engagement,' says B4-16 co-Chair Cecilia Robinson. While Australia, the UK, the EU and the US have introduced legislation to regulate social media and shield young people from online harm, New Zealand has not followed suit. Unlike Australia – which has an independent eSafety Commissioner with powers to investigate harm, enforce standards, and hold platforms accountable – New Zealand has no dedicated regulator. 'At the moment, we put Big Tech first. We need a system that puts our children first,' says Dr Samantha Marsh, a public health researcher with the University of Auckland, and B4-16 advisor. 'It's time for a truly independent regulatory body with the power to protect our children. Social media is harmful in a variety of ways, but particularly for young children. Education alone doesn't change behaviour – regulation is needed," says Marsh. A growing body of international evidence shows that social media is a high-risk environment for children's mental health, emotional wellbeing, and cognitive development. 'At Outward Bound, I've seen first-hand the positive impact on teens' mental resilience when they step away from social media for days and weeks at a time. If we can protect growing brains and bodies for longer from addictive and harmful algorithms, we will be a better society for it. There is so much at stake,' said B4-16 's Malindi Maclean who is also tumuaki CEO of Outward Bound New Zealand. The Ministry of Health's latest New Zealand Health Survey revealed the number of 15–24 year olds in high or very high psychological distress increased by 400% for the eleven year period to 2023. Studies consistently link social media use with anxiety, depression, disordered eating, sleep disruption, and poor academic outcomes. In 2023, Youthline's State of the Generation Report found that 75% of young people believed mental health was the biggest issue they face, and half of all young people in Aotearoa said social media was a major issue for them. B416 says it's a complex issue which is too big for parents to manage on their own. 'We've got strong research showing social media is harmful, that it's structurally changing our children's brains – and it's doing it at scale,' said Marsh. 'It's a public health issue that requires regulation. New Zealand has laws to protect our children from smoking and alcohol and we need to do the same for social media.' A 2024 Horizon Research poll found that 74% of New Zealanders support a legal age restriction for social media, with 83% concerned about harmful and inappropriate content online. In its report, Meeting the Mental Health needs of young New Zealanders, the Office for the Auditor-General also raised concerns about rising levels of mental distress among young people aged 12-24. It estimated that mental illness costs New Zealand about 5% of gross domestic product annually – more than $20b. B4-16 says the campaign presents a clear opportunity for cross-party action and is seeking government-wide support for regulation. B4-16 is calling for: legislation to set a minimum age of 16 to access social media platforms the implementation of stronger 'age assurance' systems for age verification a dedicated online safety regulator who is responsible for protecting children and young people from online harm, and has enforceable powers
