A Breath of Fresh Air initiative 

A collaboration focused on minimising the exposure of second-hand tobacco smoke at Kwinana Marketplace shopping centre has been launched by South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS), Kwinana Marketplace, City of Kwinana and Make Smoking History team at Cancer Council WA.

The ‘A Breath of Fresh Air – Kwinana Marketplace’ project, funded by Healthway, involves increasing awareness of health messaging and tobacco cessation support for employees, visitors and the local Aboriginal community, with the aim to reduce the high rates of smoking within the City of Kwinana population.

Cancer Council WA calls out the State Government

Cancer Council WA is calling on the State Government to create more smoke-free public spaces after a recent survey revealed that almost nine in 10 West Australians want access to more smoke-free environments in WA.

Tobacco use was the leading risk factor  to the fatal burden in 2018

Earlier this year the Australian Government published the key findings from the Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) 2018. 

According to the Study, tobacco use was the leading risk factor for both males and females and contributed the most to the fatal burden, with almost 20,500 attributable deaths (13% of all deaths) in 2018.

Smoking costs WA hospitals close to $127 million each year

The WA Department of Health has published a new report confirming that the cost of treating tobacco-caused disease in WA hospitals was $126,673,018 in 2018-19.

In the ten-year period from 2009 to 2019, treating diseases caused by smoking cost Western Australia nearly one billion dollars.

Spotlight on the future of smoking in Western Australian prisons

The Department of Justice continues to support the possible introduction of a smoke-free policy in WA prisons as part of a broader commitment to providing a healthy and safe environment for staff, prisoners, contractors and visitors

Maternal tobacco exposure during pregnancy

A meta-analysis of 16 articles found exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a 1.13 times greater risk of allergic rhinitis (hay fever) in children, and this risk was even greater for children of women exposed to second-hand smoke during pregnancy.