The Effects Of Tobacco Smoking On The Australian Community

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.

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.

This essay will discuss the issue of smoking in adolescents from the Australian society. The discussion will include a recent campaign that has been created to cut the morbidity rates of smoking in adolescents from the Western Australian (WA) region. The campaign “Smarter than Smoking” provided an effective health promotion strategies to reduce tobacco enhancement for adolescents aged 10-15 years old. The essay will provide a better analysis on tobacco consumption in adolescents. Thus, portraying the potential impacts of smoking at a young age in the Western Australian society. As well as, a discussion about the implementation of the program “Smarter than Smoking” and its effectiveness in society will be further analyzed.

In Australia, tobacco is the largest single preventable cause of diseases and death (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). According to the National drug strategy household survey 2013, the prevalence of daily smoking in Australian population over 14

This paper has the purpose of developing a critical evaluation of tobacco control policy in Australia. It will review and describe some of the various governmental policies on tobacco, and discuss evidence that shows the impact of these policies.

Australia is the world leader in tobacco control, as they became the first country that implemented plain package policy. Since December 2012, all tobacco products which are traded and brought to Australia must be in plain packaging in order to implement the National Tobacco Strategy (NTS) 2012 – 2018. (National Tobacco Strategy, 2012, p.27) The range of policies including health signs on packaging, mass media campaigns, bans on tobacco promotion, price increases, and controls on smoking and access to tobacco were implemented (ibid, p.1). As a result, 2014-2015 data shows that 14.5 percent aged 18 years and above were daily smokers (2.6 million adults), dropped from 16 percent in 2011-12. This reduction is a continuation of the trend over the past two decades. In 2001, 22.4 percent of adults smoked daily, while 23.8% of adults smoked daily in 1995 (Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2015).

National Tobacco Campaign: During 1980s and early 1990s a steady reduction in smoking prevalence was observed, therefore a National Tobacco campaign was developed (Hill DJ, 1998). This campaign targeted smokers aged 18- 40 years. The evaluation of National Tobacco campaign shows significant reduction in prevalence of smoking among Australian adults (AIHW, 2005) . A decline from 23.5 % in May 1997 to 20.4% in November 2000 was seen in campaign survey (Wakefield M, 2004). Overall the campaign survey shows

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

In the year of 2010, 15.1% of Australian aged over 14 years were regular smokers, decreasing from 16.6% in 2007 and from 24.3% in 1991. One-quarter of the whole population were people who used to smoke and more than half had never smoked. Smoking currency is largest amongst 18-40-year-olds, and this group set a primary target audience for the National Tobacco Campaign (2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey).

This publication suggests reasons why a high proportion of Indigenous Australians smoke: culture, colonisation, addiction, normalisation, low socioeconomic status and less access to preventive and medical services (Brady, cited in Ivers 2011). Some tobacco interventions in health care and the community:

These measures have been effective in reducing tobacco demand in Australia. The National Tracking Survey conducted from 2012-2014 assessed Australian smokers’ responses to plain packaging and enlarged GHW (Australian Department of Health, 2016). Participants reported that plain packaging reduced tobacco’s appeal and that GHW were more noticeable against plain backgrounds. The images on the packaging brought home the adverse consequences of smoking in place of a perceived enjoyable experience (Australian Department of Health, 2016). This correlated with the decrease in prevalence of daily smokers from 15.1% in 2011 to 12.8% in 2013 (Fig.6) (WHO, 2016), indicating that these new measures did significantly reduce tobacco demand in Australia in recent

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’.

In Australia, the sale of tobacco products should be banned for anyone born after the year 2000. Population health refers to how individuals in a society should collectively ensure peoples living conditions are achieved healthily. The World Health Organisation defines health as '…the state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.' Smoking in Australia is a relatively large issue with 14.5% of adults aged 18 or over being daily smokers in 2014 to 2015 which amounted to 2.6 million adults. One of the top risk factors for chronic disease, cancers, respiratory diseases and heart disease is tobacco smoking. Furthermore, smoking and its health side effects are one of the most preventable

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.

Smoking is the one of the largest preventable cause of death and illness in Australia, accounting for nearly 15,500 deaths every year. It is responsible for more deaths up to the age of 64 than all deaths attributable to alcohol and illegal drugs consolidated (OxyGen).