Paula Lorgelly: Auckland University Health Economist on the number of smokers plateauing, increase in people vaping

There's hopes New Zealand's efforts to stop smoking don't go up in smoke.  

The latest New Zealand Health Survey shows daily smoking rates have remained steady over the past year.  

They were just under 7%, which is down from 13% five years ago.  

Auckland University health economist Paula Lorgelly told Mike Hosking we might be tripping at the finish line. 

She says we're seeing more steady drops which could have continued if New Zealand had passed legislation the previous government introduced. 

However, the survey found that 1 in 4 18-24 year olds are vaping, as Kiwis seemingly replace cigarettes with vapes. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we've got the annual Health New Zealand survey results.
Eighty five percent of us say we're in good health.
I don't know what the point of that is. Ninety
seven percent of children they're in the same state. Apparently
more kids are in homes that run out of food,
though fifty percent of adults aren't exercising enough and wait
times are up as well. Wait times places like GPS
University of Auckland health economist Paula L. Gelly as well
as PAULA very good morning to you Cia Mike is

(00:22):
asking people whether they're in good health of any use
to anybody at all.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, I think it's the only way we do understand
how people feel. Obviously, you can have a iconic condition
and that might get picked up in some health records,
but actually, you know, having a barometer on the health
of the population, this is a great way of doing it.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Well, if you look at the numbers and believe the numbers,
then the health system, I'm led to believe by the media,
is on the verge of collapse in all sorts of
different areas. And yet if you ask your averter of
New Zealand, do they're feeling fine? How do you square
that circle?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, well they are feeling fine. But I think that's
just a something as an of the question. You know,
are you and how is your health today? Excellent, good,
very good, fear or poor? And it's all relative to
you know, maybe some expectation of what you think it
should be or others around you are like, and you know,
and how you're facing with aging.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
And looking at that both there is sorry, carry.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
On, There is indication in the survey that the health
system is in crisis, so as you noted, so we're
struggling still to get a GP appointment and there are
less attendances at GPS, and actually now as a corollery,
there are more people attending emergency department, you know, and
that's because it's free and it's not constrained between nine

(01:38):
and five you say, still have to wait. So you know,
that's a reflection, I guess on the cost of living
in the crisis in the primary care sector.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
What do you read on vaping? The smoking, smoking's down,
vapings up, or we're simply replacing one with another.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
It looks that way. So we've really flattered in this
last year. We were on this amazing steady decline and
we could have done that additional push that was repealed
in Parliament, and now it looks like vaping has taken over.
Of course we don't know the harms of vaping yet,
so we have now more people vaping. I mean, one

(02:11):
in four eighteen to twenty four year olds of vaping
and that's horrendous statistic.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's not good. Pull. I appreciate your time, Paula Gelli,
who's the University of Auckland health economists. For more from
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