Quit Victoria to help Tongans give up smoking Featured
Mr. Tupou Tu'ilautala (Right)
Two health workers from Tonga, where the male smoking rate is double Australia's, have been trained in Victoria to launch their country's first anti-smoking hotline.
The launch of the Tongan quitline service in July will also be followed by a television advertising campaign modelled on Quit's own advertisements, but with Tongan actors.
Countries in the Asia-Pacific region have among the world's highest smoking rates, World Bank data shows, and in Tonga more than 40 per cent of men smoke. A higher proportion of women smoke in Australia than in Tonga - 19 per cent compared with 12 per cent.
Tupou Tuilautala, one of the two men trained in Victoria, said rates among men were higher in Tonga because smoking was seen as a sign of maturity and there was a lack of awareness about the dangers.
"It is one of the main focuses as boys grow up – they can go to the bush with their father and work in the plantations," he said. "It is normal, it is part of maturity – you grow up and smoke and you are mature. Part of our focus is to de-normalise that idea that smoking is a normal part of growing up in Tonga."
He said there had not been any concerted anti-smoking advertising campaigns in Tonga and that the hotline was started up so people would have somewhere to go for advice if the material made them rethink their habit.
Quit Victoria's Luke Atkin said it was the first time Quit had trained people to work overseas and that the training had been tailored to help Tongan callers. "It's really nice to work with these guys, to share our experiences and learn from them about the impact tobacco has had on their communities."
He said tobacco use was also widespread in Tonga among young people, with about 38 per cent of teenage boys smoking.
In Australia, 21 per cent of adult men smoke compared with 43 per cent in Tonga. In Indonesia, about two-thirds of adult men smoke, and the figure is about 55 per cent in Papua New Guinea.
The Tongan quitline has been funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and is a collaboration with the Nossal Institute for Global Health.
Source: The Victoria Age
