Acknowledging National Tobacco Strategy Through Social Democracy Lens Essay

Tobacco has and still is the most important public health issue faced in Australia and internationally. (Jochelson, 2006). Many countries such as North America, England, Australia, Canada and Ireland have introduced policies regarding smoking in public areas and restriction of smoking in indoor areas. (Thomson, Wilson & Edwards, 2009). The government, community leaders and policy makers work towards introducing policies that will stop consumers from smoking in public areas. (Pizacani, maher, Rohde, Drach & Stark, 2012). Government intervention should extend public smoking bans so that second hand smokers can be safe, a better environment and less death incidents relating to smoking.

According to the Australian Government Department of Health website (2013), The National Tobacco Campaign (NTC) is a nationally recognised health promotion movement (provided under the organisation QuitNow Australia and launched by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing in 2011) aimed at providing smokers with the appropriate motivation and support aimed at achieving adequate behaviour change regarding addictive (tobacco use) behaviours (Department of Health and Ageing, 2012). It is also considered the highest evaluated national health promotion campaign in Australia due to its accomplished rates in producing successful behaviour change, the ability

Smoking is recognised as the largest single preventable cause of death and disease in Australia. It is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, renal disease and eye disease. Tobacco contains the powerfully addictive stimulant nicotine, which can make smoking a regular and long-term habit that is not easy to quit (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Statistics show

“Smoking rates have halved in Australians over the past 30 years, falling below 16%. Except for in Indigenous populations, smoking rates have remained at more than twice this level, with even higher rates reported in remote communities” (RACGP, 2013) The inequality that has been faced by Indigenous people is still at an unacceptable level, and has “been identified as a human rights concern by the United Nations” (Dick, 2007). Smoking is a major issue because, “it is the most preventable contributor to the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples” (Ivers, 2011). “Smoking contributes to 17% of the life expectancy gap” (Australian Government: Department for Health and Welfare, 2011). The socio-economic disadvantage faced by Indigenous people leads to the addiction of tobacco, which can be caused by many factors including; their position on the social gradient, education, social exclusion, their employment status and their social support. There is a lack of developed personal skills on the health risks of tobacco, “some Aboriginals don’t identify smoking as a health issue” (Korff, 2014), due to the history of Aboriginal people around smoking. As well as first hand smoke, passive smoking also contributes to poor health, especially for children. Smoking is the major cause for heart disease, stroke, some cancers, lung diseases and a variety of other conditions (HealthInfoNet.ecu.edu.au, 2013). “If we could reduce tobacco consumption levels

Tobacco use and the effects of second hand smoke have been an ongoing issue for many years. Looking at the attitude of the 1950’s and 1960’s when smoking was thought of as cool, suave, mature, etc., there has been a major turnaround in the way society looks at the use of tobacco. Now the issue is not just smoking and the damage to health that it causes, but now there is the additional awareness of what second hand smoke can do to individuals.

Tobacco consumption is the number one cause of preventable deaths in the United States. In the United States, cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year. That is around one in five deaths annually only because of smoking. On an average, the person who smokes dies ten years earlier than a non-smoker. These statistics are not mere numbers but speak about the gravity of the situation. The United States government should portray a more negative view on Tabaco to save the lives of many people worldwide (Centre for Disease and Prevention, second paragraph).

Tobacco has existed for long as we have known about history, but due to the negative effects of it to the broader community Tobacco has sparked greater controversy across the globe. Many people argue that it is the government’s responsibility to protect the individual but on the contrary some disagree and believe it’s up to the individual. This essay will elaborate above mentioned aspects and lead to a logical conclusion.

In Vanguard’s documentary, Sex, Lies, and Cigarettes: Secrets of the Tobacco Industry by director, Alex Simmons, Vanguard sends correspondent, Christof Putzel to Jakarta, Indonesia to investigate the tobacco industry there. The documentary talks about how America no longer allows cigarette and tobacco ads and commercials, instead the country focuses scare tactic ads that stop people from smoking or keeps them from starting. The tobacco industry is losing millions of dollars in America so they’re moving overseas to poorer countries like Indonesia to make their money there. Putzel goes to see what all the tobacco industry is doing and how they’re corrupting the young people like ‘the smoking baby’, Aldi, as well as students of the country.

The purpose of this economics report is to illustrate the economic concerns and arguments around smoking in Australia and the methods of taxing aimed at reducing the smoking rate. The report will use a variety of research articles, economic theories and models to report on this issue so that the CEO of the Cancer Council of Australia has a thorough understanding.

General public (civil society): In Canada, there are an estimated 45,000 smoking-related deaths each year. A majority of smokers are disproportionately from lower socio-economic brackets. In a Canadian research study, it was reported that 47% gave an anti-tobacco strategy a high priority. The public would influence decision makers and GPPNs to use denormalization and any other policy instruments to fight

Consequently, according to the report by the Cancer Council (2009) the majority of adult smokers has smoked cigarettes in their early adolescence. In the year 1999 the rates for smokers within the ages of 10-15 were 20% and the ages of 16-17 were 40% (STS, 2009). However, the article by Woods (2009) stipulates that in the year 1995, a survey was conducted on Western Australians residing across the Perth metropolitan area. The results showed that the proportion of 14-year-old smoker males decreased from 28.6% to a 16.8% in 2005 (Woods, 2009). Additionally, the article further specifies that these numbers have decreased over time because of the “Smarter than Smoking” campaign that influenced a greater decrease in the numbers of smokers, which targeted the Western Australian adolescent population (Woods, 2009).

The implementation of tobacco-control policy in Australia has a significant reduction in smoking prevalence for Australian aged 14 years and older from 24.3% in 1991 to 15.1% in 2010.1 This placing Australia among the lowest in the world.2 A remarkable exception is the most disadvantaged groups including the Australia’s Indigenous, among whom tobacco smoking rate reaches 47,7% in 2013.3 The uneven distribution of the effectiveness of tobacco control policy among Indigenous Australian brings repercussion in steepening social gradient in tobacco use which may lead to tobacco stigmatization.4

The drug tobacco is legal, but it has its limitations. People in Australia have to be at least eighteen to consume this drug, but if the seller is caught selling it to people younger than eighteen they would be heavily fined of a maximum 2000 dollars. Many public places are smoke free zones for the community’s health and safety purposes. Most public domains such as shopping centres, hospitals, office buildings and schools are smoke free areas for community health and safety purposes, people find it ‘socially unacceptable’.

This report will focus how smoking tobacco can result in individuals with poor health and wellbeing outcomes. The report with the first overview of the Victorian public health and wellbeing plan 2015-2019, outlining how the determinants of health can influence at-risk population groups. Afterwards, one of the priority area, tobacco-free living, will be selected along with the two at-risk groups, those who are lower on the social gradient ladder and Aboriginal Victorians, then one at-risk group will be analysed with three different determinants describing why they are experiencing poorer health and wellbeing outcomes.

The following literature review will be focussed on both New Zealand-based individual nicotine replacement therapy and population level tobacco taxation attempts in addressing nicotine addiction through tobacco (cigarette) smoking. It will achieve this through special focus on ethnic minority groups such as Māori and Pacific Island populations, as well as low socio-economic populations who engage in smoking cigarettes and are affected disproportionally. Through this, the review will aim to describe and explain the addiction, as well as its’ impact on society. It will also critically evaluate the limitations and effectiveness of past responses and interventions that have been implemented to reduce the prevalence of addicted smokers in New Zealand.