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Newslines Radio: Tobacco action workers – part one

23 April 2013
Safety and Wellbeing

This Newslines Radio program looks at the effect smoking is having on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is critical to Closing the Gap.

This Newslines Radio program looks at the effect smoking is having on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

We know that smoking is responsible for one in five of all Indigenous deaths and is the most preventable cause of poor health and early death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Tom Calma who heads up the Australian Government’s Tackling Indigenous Smoking initiative tells Newslines about what is being done to target smokers in Indigenous communities.

“The tobacco action workers are out there to work with the community to come up with local solutions to help people give up smoking or not take it up in the first place,” Tom said.

Find out more

The Australian Government is funding the rollout of a national network of regional tobacco coordinators and tobacco action workers to work with Indigenous communities to reduce the number of people smoking. This workforce will implement a range of community-based smoking prevention and cessation support activities tailored to local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.