This ASPIRE 2025 research report explores stakeholder perceptions of the smokefree 2025 goal and ‘game-changer’ policies for achieving it. Key informants include politicians and tobacco control leaders, with an emphasis on Māori and Pacific voices.
Key messages from this project:
- Bold policies are needed to address inequalities and reduce smoking prevalence in priority groups. Key informants agreed that a suite of interventions is needed to achieve the 2025 goal – no single policy will get us there.
- The report highlights the need for greater clarity over the definition of the smokefree 2025 goal: does it mean reduced prevalence and/or reduced availability? Is the prevalence goal <5% overall or <5% for all ethnic groups?
- The findings suggest that dramatic tax increases may be the most viable immediate policy target for New Zealand’s tobacco control sector. This option was seen by key informants as both effective and politically feasible, if coupled with complementary interventions.
- More work is required to collate evidence and raise awareness about other ‘game changer’ options such as compulsory removal of nicotine from tobacco, bans on additives, reduced retail availability and the ‘tobacco free generation’. Key informants had mixed views on the likely effectiveness and feasibility of these options.
- Frustration at the lack of progress towards Smokefree 2025 was a key theme. The findings add further weight to calls for urgent government action on tobacco control.
The full report can be viewed here– Future Directions to Achieve Smokefree 2025?
For more information, please contact:
Richard Edwards
University of Otago, Wellington
email richard.edwards@otago.ac.nz
This ASPIRE 2025 project was funded by the Tūranga’s Emerging Issues Fund and led by the University of Otago, in partnership with Auckland University of Technology.