Indigenous anti-smoking campaign to focus on family impact

WITH one in five Indigenous people dying from tobacco-related diseases, the Federal Government has launched the first anti-smoking advertising campaign aimed at Aboriginal and Islander people.

The campaign, called Break the Chain, focuses on the importance of kinship, featuring a young woman reflecting on her experience of losing family and friends to smoking-related diseases.

Research suggests the key to getting Indigenous people to give up smoking was to highlight the effect on family, particularly children, the Government said.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon and Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon said the campaign focused on the "harsh reality" that one in every two Indigenous Australians were smokers.

The Government had set a target of halving Indigenous smoking rates by 2018, Mr Snowdon said.

Previous quit campaigns had not worked in Indigenous communities, often due to poor literacy or because many did not watch television, he said.

The new campaign includes print, radio and TV ads and follows the Government's biggest national anti-tobacco campaign on TV, which started at the end of January and focused on lung cancer symptoms of cough and haemoptysis.