Kokiri Marae launches Sudden Unexplained Death in Infancy (SUDI) Prevention Programme
Kokiri Marae Health and Social Services launched its Moe Ora mō ngā pēpi – SUDI Prevention Programme last week. The programme aims to prevent the occurrence of SUDI through a number of interventions which support stopping smoking and safe sleep practices. The launch took place at Wainuiomata Marae in Lower Hutt. National SUDI Prevention Coordination Manager, Fay Selby-Law, shared SUDI evidence and these insights with those in attendance.
 Mai i te whare tangata mō ake tonu, kia auahi kore
From the first home in the womb, let it be smokefree.
Ahakoa ki wai, Ahakoa ki hea.
No matter who, No matter where. We are saying whoever is caring for baby and where ever baby is being cared for, they need a safe place to sleep for every sleep.
Smoking during pregnancy and unsafe infant bed-sharing are modifiable factors which increase the risk of SUDI. The Kokiri Marae prevention programme offers services which support expectant mothers and their whānau to lead smokefree lives through their Hapū Māmā Stop Smoking Programme. In addition, they offer education about safe sleep to whānau and providers, and seek to improve access to safe sleep devices such as wahakura and pēpi-pods.
Nga mihi to the Hutt Valley District Health Board (DHB) for the funding of their putea to Kokiri Marae Health and Social Services. Kokiri Marae now has the resource to provide SUDI prevention to the communities they serve.
It has been a while since there has been a SUDI prevention programme and we are delighted this work will continue to support our babies, our mothers, our whānau and our communities.
Actions like this are important, when data highlights that Māori babies are almost seven times more likely to pass away as a result of SUDI than non-Māori. While inequities remain, services that take a by Māori, for Māori approach work for our communities and align with Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We encourage more DHBs to look to similar and existing services within their regions in seeking to reduce the occurrence of SUDI nationally.
Māori professionals in the SUDI sector have had significant impact in influencing the changing nature of bed-sharing in a way which is culturally considerate and meaningful. Wahakura (flax bassinets) are crafted by expert weavers across Aotearoa to allow for whānau to sleep close to their baby safely, with proximity during sleep promoting breastfeeding. Importantly, wahakura are environmentally sustainable and encourage cultural revitalisation.
There were so many beautiful wahakura at this launch, each one different, each one a work of art, each one reminding us that like the stars of Matariki each pēpi born is unique and there will be a special wahakura to fit that will provide a safe place for baby to sleep.
Health initiatives which incorporate Māori practices should be embraced by the health sector as Māori are more likely to engage in a system which reflects their belief systems. Change can occur through realising the strengths of Māori based interventions.
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Smokefree 2025: An opportunity for big scores by the Government
 University of Otago, Wellington media release, 22 June 2018
A group of tobacco control experts has published an open letter in the New Zealand Medical Journal calling for bold new actions from the New Zealand Government to achieve the Smokefree 2025 goal.
The group, which included health and tobacco experts from the Cancer Society and the University of Otago, Wellington, is calling for the vision of the 2010 Māori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry on the tobacco industry to be revived. That vision included a reduction of tobacco retail outlets, and a reduction in tobacco additives, as part of the work to reduce health inequalities between Māori and non-Māori.
Lead author Martin Witt, of the Cancer Society Canterbury/West Coast Division, said that the action on outlets is needed to help break the influence that the tobacco industry has on tobacco retailing in New Zealand.
"Instead of thousands of tobacco outlets, the Government needs to allow tobacco sales only from outlets with secure storage, trained adult staff, and where only those over 18 are allowed."
The group says tobacco products need to be less appealing and less addictive. Marketing expert Professor Janet Hoek says removing flavours and sweeteners, and redesigning their appearance, would limit the industry's ability to market to youth and young adults.
"Now that we have plain packs, an important next step should be to control the design of cigarettes, including their content, colour, shape, and the warnings on them."
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Quitline launches text support service
 Quitline media release, 26 June 2018
It's now even easier to get help and support from Quitline via text anytime, anywhere.
Texting is a convenient way to communicate and for some makes for an easy first step when reaching out for help. Anyone can free text to enrol in a quit smoking programme, or ask for advice and support with their quit smoking journey.
Offering support by text has already proven to be effective, with one study concluding smokers who used mobile messaging interventions were twice as likely to make it six months without smoking than those who didn't.
Texting boasts a range of benefits including allowing people to be anonymous, it can be a more comfortable way for people to articulate their thoughts, texting doesn't alert others and can be handy when smokers aren’t able to make a phone call.
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Fact sheet on vaping use among 14- and 15-year-olds
 The Health Promotion Agency (HPA) has produced a fact sheet on vaping by 14-15-year-olds in New Zealand. The data was obtained through the 2016 Youth Insights Survey. The results are presented by sex and ethnicity.
View the Fact Sheet on the HPA website.
The Youth Insights Survey (YIS) is a nationally representative school-based survey of Year 10 students (predominantly 14 and 15 year olds). The YIS collects in-depth information on tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, as well as a wide range of information on youth culture and lifestyles.
See more results from the Youth Insights Survey about youth smoking behaviours and attitudes at HPA’s Tobacco Control Data Repository.
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Hāpai Te Hauora Trending News
 3 July 2018
Every fortnight we find the latest news stories relating to a range of key issue areas and the general health of Māori from around the world and right here in Aotearoa.
Topics:
- Efeso Collins – obesity is a crisis for my community
- Hui-ā-Tau 2018
- Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Commitee annual conference
- 2018 Progress Fellowship
- Population health
- Tobacco control
- Alcohol and other drugs
- Nutrition and physical activity
- Gambling harm
- Research and technology.
Read the 3 July 2018 Edition.
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Curbing high rates of pregnant Māori mothers smoking, and wahakura/pēpi pods
 Radio New Zealand, 29 June 2018
Hutt Valley Hospital and Kōkiri Marae in Lower Hutt are taking a stand to stop babies dying, with figures showing 39 percent of Māori mothers smoke during pregnancy.
Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy or SUDI kills 40 to 50 babies a year, and the risk is higher for those whose parents smoke or sleep beside them.
The Moe Ora mō ngā pēpi programme is set to provide 300 wahakura, safe sleeping baskets, to babies most at risk and provide greater support to help parents quit smoking.
Fay Selby-Law from the national SUDI prevention service Hāpai Te Hauora said about 39 percent of Māori women who are pregnant are smokers.
"We know that Māori women are the highest smokers in the world and we know that Māori... women who are hapū, are continuing to smoke.
"What we're trying to do is to support them to make that change."
"It's not easy, it's an addiction, it's a habit, it's often – when you're a māmā it's the thing you do for yourself, it might be the only thing that you do for yourself." Leith Porter-Samuels knows first-hand what it's like to lose someone from SUDI. She remembers the life-changing moment her baby nephew lost his life to SUDI, or cot death as it was formerly known, when she was 17-years-old.
That terrible loss was not her first. The former midwife lost another in 1988 – it was the first baby she helped deliver to the world.
Find out more.
See also:
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'I Quit Smoking for my Moko' exhibition in Wairarapa
 The Big Idea, 31 May 2018
On 31 May 2018, World Smokefree Day, Regional Public Health Wairarapa launched the poignant exhibition 'Ka Tipu Auahi Kore Nga Mokopuna – Mokopuna Growing up Smokefree' at Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, featuring nine portraits of influential woman in the Wairarapa community who have gone smokefree in the name of their children and grandchildren.
The exhibition was on display at Aratoi until 6 June.
While across Aotearoa, 85 percent of the population is smokefree, wāhine Māori are more likely to smoke than any other group of people in the country. According to Health Promotion Agency statistics, 39.7 percent of Māori women in the Wairarapa smoke.
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Researchers evaluate quitting methods
Researchers at The University of Kansas Cancer Center have received a five-year National Institutes of Health R0-1 grant to compare and evaluate the efficacy of optimized versus non-optimized tobacco cessation approaches for African American smokers.
Find out more.
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Academic journal says vapes aren't tobacco products
A major academic journal will no longer allow authors to call vapes tobacco products. In an editorial titled "Are e-cigarettes tobacco products?" Nicotine & Tobacco Research Editor-in-Chief Marcus Munafò explains that the journal will only use the term "tobacco products" to describe items that contain actual leaf tobacco.
The change matters because Nicotine & Tobacco Research is the most important academic journal focused exclusively on topics related to tobacco and nicotine.
Find out more.
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The problem with kids and flavoured tobacco
While it’s often adults who face the consequences of long-term tobacco use, we – as researchers and practitioners who have studied this issue closely – see a consistent pattern of the tobacco industry working to attract new customers from childhood.
Find out more.
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The Tobacco industry's latest scam: how big tobacco is still facilitating tobacco smuggling, while also attempting to control a global system designed to prevent it.
The major tobacco companies are acting as corporate chameleons, spending millions on make-overs, trying to convince the world they have changed. But shattering this expensive illusion is the latest evidence (published this week in Tobacco Control) uncovering one of their greatest scams: not only are tobacco companies still involved in tobacco smuggling, but they are positioning themselves to control the very system governments around the world have designed to stop them from doing so. Their elaborate and underhand effort, implemented over years, involves front groups, third parties, fake news and payments to the international regulatory authorities meant to hold them to account.
Find out more.
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Call for ban on cigarette sales as dairy owners 'live in fear' of robberies
 Stuff, 21 June 2018
An Indian community leader in Auckland is calling for a ban on the sale of cigarettes as dairy robberies reach "epidemic" levels.
Crime Prevention Group president Sunny Kaushal claimed the theft of cigarettes was one of the main motives behind robberies and said they need to be stopped.
A dairy in the Waikato, among others, has already stopped selling them in an attempt to prevent theft.
Kaushal's comments come after a dairy owner and her son were stabbed recently in Grey Lynn. The motive for the attack is not known.
He said robbers tried to get their hands on "anything and everything" but cigarettes and cash were the main targets.
See also:
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Meaningful work (experience) for ICT students
Ara Institute of Canterbury, 26 June 2018
As part of the Mobile Technology course, Bachelor of ICT students were tasked to build a prototype app that will allow the client, Stop Smoking Canterbury, to provide a service available to everyone, more especially reach young adults where a high prevalence of smoking occurs.
Four students emerged as winners in the app development. They are Sarah Ball, Jake Reddock, Timothy Fowler and Soon (John) Ee. The students presented their winning apps and posters to Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) and were awarded certificates of excellence.
The CDHB's Stop Smoking Canterbury programmes supports the Smokefree Aotearoa goal of less than 5 percent of New Zealanders smoking by 2025, by supporting smokers to quit. This will improve the health and wellbeing of Canterbury, especially for children and young adults.
Find out more.
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Christchurch City Council's new smokefree rules criticised
 Stuff, 28 June 2018
Plans to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas owned by the Christchurch City Council are "draconian", a city councillor says.
Jamie Gough questioned where people were supposed to go to have a cigarette given legislation prevented them from smoking inside bars and restaurants.
"Do you expect them to stand in the middle of the Avon River or in the middle of the road?"
About 60 businesses lease footpath space from the council for outdoor dining. A survey of the businesses in January attracted 14 responses and half of those said they were willing to become smokefree. A council survey of 770 residents in 2017 found 78 percent believed all outdoor eating areas in restaurants and cafes should be smokefree.
Cr Gough, an ex-smoker, said one in 10 people regularly smoked and people had every right to have a cigarette while having a drink outside.
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Editorial: We all need to get active on strokes
 Dominion Post, 25 June 2018
Medical researchers sound so many wake-up calls it's hard to get any rest. But the latest warning klaxon is a significant one that should bestir us.
Better though we're getting at preventing strokes and increasing the survivability of them, we're both a growing and ageing population.
This means that although the harm is being suffered by smaller proportion of us, the actual number of people smitten is shaping up to rise scarily; 40 percent in the coming decade. An increase from about 9000 to 12,000 strokes per year.
What's more, we surely know already which groups should take these figures most personally. The over-65s are particularly in the gun while the tedious tragedy of Māori and Pacific groups taking a disproportionately heavy wallop is yet again evident.
See also:
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Worldwide big tobacco news
Imperial Tobacco 'shocked' by Health Canada's proposed package regulations
 The Guardian, 25 June 2018
Imperial Tobacco says Health Canada's proposed plain packaging regulations for cigarettes are confusing and warns it may have to go to court if changes aren't made.
Eric Gagnon, Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada, says his organisation is "shocked and confused" by the proposed regulations.
"There's a number of provisions that are basically impossible to comply with," Gagnon said.
Health Canada published its draft regulations last week and opened a 75-day consultation period for people to provide written submissions on its proposed changes to cigarette packages, which aim to make them drab, unattractive and unappealing to youth.
The proposed measures would also restrict how brand names are displayed and would require all tobacco packages to be the same colour.
Find out more.
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Tobacco: activist investors pressure £20bn companies over child labour
 The Guardian, 25 June 2018
The world's biggest tobacco companies are coming under mounting pressure over child labour and working conditions in fields globally, from Zimbabwe to North Carolina.
The firms are facing intense scrutiny from unions, NGOs and academics.
While all have child labour policies in place and have formed organisations such as the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation (recognised by the UN), their actions have brought little change and are largely cosmetic, claims Marty Otañez, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver. He has been working on the subject for 20 years and has done research in Malawi, Bolivia, Argentina, Tanzania, India and Kenya.
"There is a disconnect between what company representatives say they do and what they actually do," he alleged. "In every segment during the tobacco production process, you find different magnitudes of child labour."
Find out more.
See also:
Tobacco companies are now required to post health warnings on their websites
Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2018
A lawsuit brought by the US Justice Department in 1999 against tobacco giants is seeing further steps implemented in the fight to curb cigarette-related health issues. The 2006 ruling in the case saw an order issued 1 May that had tobacco firms post health warning statements on their websites.
The suit seeks to make tobacco producers responsible for the decades they spent deceiving customers about the dangers of their product. The 2006 ruling has been attempting to ensure the companies issue "corrective statements", as called in the case, regarding the risks of smoking, a move the cigarette makers have fought with appeals.
Defrauding the public, however, will likely be much harder with the new measures...
Visitors to the sites are informed that smoking kills 1200 Americans a day, causing more deaths yearly than "from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined."
Find out more.
Tobacco giant Imperial Brands invests in medical cannabis
BBC News, 28 June 2018
Tobacco firm Imperial Brands is investing in UK biotech company Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies (OCT).
The move comes as campaigning to allow marijuana products for medicinal purposes gathers pace.
A company subsidiary, Imperial Brands Ventures, is taking a stake in the UK firm, but its size is unknown.
Tobacco companies are trying to diversify away from their core product. Imperial's website bears the motto: "From tobacco to something better."
Find out more.
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Australia's tobacco-packaging law doesn't violate WTO rules
New Zealand Herald, 29 June 2018
A World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute body has ruled that Australia did not unfairly inhibit trade by requiring plain packaging for tobacco products, sending a message that tough-on-tobacco rules don't necessarily violate fair trade.
The WTO's dispute settlement body said complainants did not successfully demonstrate that Australia had violated its obligations to ensure fair trade following its implementation of path-breaking legislation in 2012 requiring plain packaging as a way to reduce health risks.
Complainants acknowledged the risks of smoking, but argued Australia's measures couldn't reduce use of tobacco products and hampered trade more than needed to reach its public health goals. The WTO dispute body countered that Australia's policy in fact can help reduce tobacco use.
Find out more.
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Puyol: Stay healthy, don't smoke
 FIFA, 19 June 2018
As a FIFA Legend, Carles Puyol is using his influence for good. The former Spain defender and FIFA World Cup™ winner is supporting FIFA's efforts to make Russia 2018 smokefree, appearing in a video that plays on the giant screens in all stadiums.
"There are many numbers that defined my career," states Puyol in the opening scene of the video. Different numbers then flash across the screen – 693 games, two FIFA Club World Cups, one FIFA World Cup – in between highlights of Puyol's distinguished career.
"But one that defined my life," he asserts at the end, revealing a shirt with the number 0 on it to represent 0 cigarettes. His final appeal? "Stay healthy, don’t smoke."
Find out more.
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Doctors: Nicotine doesn’t kill smokers, burning tobacco does
Business Mirror, 24 June 2018
Smoking causes heart disease, stroke and lung cancer, but smoking-related diseases are not caused by nicotine.
The sickness and death caused by smoking is due to the burning of dried tobacco leaf, which produces poisonous gases, such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and cyanide that are inhaled by the smoker.
This was the key message of two Australian doctors, who are advocating for tobacco-harm reduction in their country, where buying, possessing or using liquid nicotine in e-cigarettes is illegal without a doctor's prescription.
Find out more.
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China: On-screen smoking scenes declining
 ECNS, 25 June 2018
Smoking scenes in Chinese movies and TV series have generally declined over the past decade, but not all producers are keen on extinguishing such on-screen depictions. Last year's figures were worse than in 2016, according to an anti-tobacco group.
Actors and anti-smoking activists have called for a movie rating system and stricter regulation over domestic movies and TV series to reduce scenes depicting characters lighting up, so as to lessen any negative effects on young people.
Find out more.
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Action plan for 'tobacco free generation' unveiled
 STV News, 20 June 2018
Ministers have unveiled a new action plan to help Scotland meet the target of having a tobacco-free generation by 2034.
The Scottish Government's updated plan contains 44 measures aimed at addressing health inequalities and cutting smoking rates.
It includes plans to ban smoking around hospital buildings and implement the ban on possessing tobacco in prisons.
It also outlines media campaigns around discouraging smoking in school grounds and communal stairwells and preventing young people from taking up the habit.
Find out more.
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Secret website Australians are using to buy cut price tobacco
Daily Mail, 19 June 2018
Smokers are using a secret website to buy packets of cigarettes at prices up to 70 percent lower than retail – as Australians are slugged with the highest tobacco costs in the world.
The website Ciggies World lists hundreds of different tobacco products for sale at cheaper-than-usual cost.
Although the prices are comparatively cheaper, smokers face waiting more than a month before receiving their cigarettes – with a risk they may be forced to pay unexpected taxes.
Find out more.
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Easy Evaluation workshops and training support
Learn to evaluate your projects. Gain skills and confidence in using evaluation in your work and learn how to apply programme logic.
The SHORE & Whariki Research Centre is contracted by the Ministry of Health to provide evaluation training plus organisational and individual support for the public health workforce and community organisations with a public health focus (targeting communities, groups, and environments rather than the delivery of personal health services).
Two-day Easy Evaluation workshops are offered. The workshop focuses on developing a logic model and using the logic model to develop an evaluation plan. The workshops provide experiential, hands-on learning opportunities and a full set of workshop notes is provided. Participants apply learning to their own public health/health promotion programme.
Both days run from 9.00am-4.00pm.There is no charge for this training and organisation support.
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APSAD Scientific Alcohol and Drug Conference
4-7 November 2018
Pullman Auckland Hotel
On behalf of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs, we are pleased to invite you to our beautiful City of Sails and fun, Tāmaki Makaurau, for the APSAD Auckland 2018 Conference.
The Conference will showcase high quality and state of the art scientific research into treatment, prevention and policy while also providing an opportunity for practitioners to share their latest insights and lessons learnt. Wherever you have travelled from you will be warmly welcomed.
Find out more or register.
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"This is a landmark victory in the global fight against tobacco use and a resounding defeat for the tobacco industry, which has fiercely fought plain packaging laws."
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids President Matthew Myers on a World Trade Organization decision that that Australia's plain packaging does not unfairly inhibit trade,
New Zealand Herald, 29 June 2018
"Smoking kills 1200 Americans a day, causing more deaths yearly than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined."
Tobacco and cigarette brand websites in the US must now feature corrective statements,
Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2018
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