Smoking
Smoking is one of the factors that remotely affect the aboriginal health.

• In 2008, approximately half the Indigenous adults (49.9%) were current smokers—more than double the rate of non-Indigenous people who smoked.
Smoking-related cancer is more common in Aboriginal communities than the rest of the population

• Indigenous people in remote areas smoked at higher rates (51%) than those in non-remote areas (46%) in 2008.
At least 40% of the aboriginal population in some aboriginal communities are unaware of quit aids. • More than half of Indigenous mothers (51%) smoked during pregnancy in 2008, and this rate remained relatively stable over the period between 2001 and 2008.
This will affect the baby to be born with poor health conditions and children are more likely to develop chest infections, asthma if adults smoke around them. Their unborn children have an increased risk of a heart attack or stroke when they grow up and face a 10 to 15% higher risk of developing coronary disease as adults

Smoking is the number one cause of chronic conditions and diseases among Aboriginal people and causes 20% of deaths in Aboriginal communities, this is why smoking is one of the factors contributing to poor health status

Why do aboriginal people smoke?

There are so many Aboriginal smokers because
Not informed: Aboriginal people don’t identify tobacco smoking as a health issue.
Anti-smoking campaigns fail to reach Aboriginal people because such campaigns need to be developed at ‘ground level’ for Aboriginal people and by Aboriginal people themselves. Many Aboriginal people don’t watch TV ads or cannot read magazine ads due to poor upbringing education.

Alcohol

Another issue for poor health is alcohol consumption

Compared with non-Indigenous Australians, a higher proportion of Indigenous Australians abstain from both alcohol use and binge drinking. The data show that:

• In 2008, nearly three in ten (29%) Indigenous Australians did not drink in the last 12 months—almost double the rate of non-Indigenous