Maori women smoking during pregnancy 

Despite the government's announcement last month of a decline in the number of people smoking, there is one group, to whom the message does not seem to be getting through.

Fifty-percent of Maori women still smoke, and the Public Health Association is particularly concerned, that 80% of those smokers, continue smoking during pregnancy.
 
A representative from Te-Hotu Manawa Maori has told its conference in Waitangi, that its little wonder that Maori now have the second highest rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, in the world.

Irene Walker, Auahi Kore Manager for Te Hotu Manawa Maori, says that even when pregnant Maori women quit smoking while they are carrying, their whanau may continue to smoke exposing unborn children and their mothers to the dangers of second hand smoke.

Te Hotu Manawa Maori has invested in television advertising to reach Maori with the important message to quit smoking.

But Walker says that the reach of these communications needs to be extended and that other solutions, found in more traditional Maori practices, is more effective.

"One of the things we are doing is revitalising traditional Maori birthing. This ritual is preceded by months of support for the mother, and this is the time when we can deal with issues like smoking.

"The ritual itself is far less traumatic for mother and child and involves whanau members. This means that we are placing the interests of the child at the centre of the extended family from the point of birth."

Smoking during pregnancy is know to account for higher rates of asthma, burns and fire deaths, childhood cancer, pneumonia, and developmental delay.

---

---