Smoking – quit services for diverse groups

Quit services to help you stop smoking are available from a diverse range of organisations and in a number of community languages. Australia has a very large population of people from non-English speaking (NES) and culturally diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Some of these communities have smoking rates that are much higher than the national average.

Tobacco smoking is the single most common cause of ill health and premature death in Australia. Almost 15,000 Australians die from tobacco-related diseases each year.

Multilingual and culturally appropriate help to stop smoking is available through doctors, health centres, pharmacists, migrant resource centres, community centres, ethnic organisations and Quit Victoria.

Smoking in different cultures
In Victoria, more than 20 per cent of the population speak a language other than English at home. In the 2004–05 National Health Survey, around 22 per cent of people born in Australia smoked tobacco. Rates were higher for people born in other countries in the Pacific (26%), about the same for those born in North African and Middle East countries, and lower for those from European and South-East Asian countries.

Smoking rates that combine both men and women can disguise the fact that, for many countries of origin, the smoking rates of men are very high and the female smoking rates are quite low. For example, a 1995 Australian survey shows that the male smoking rate for those born in Greece was four times that of the female smoking rate. Also, men born in Vietnam had a smoking rate of 36 per cent, while less than one per cent of women born in Vietnam smoked.

Resources and services to stop smoking
Quit Victoria has a number of strategies to reach culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities including:

• Resources in 21 languages – to help smokers quit andto provide information about the health effects of smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke. These resources are free in Victoria and can be purchased by others elsewhere in Australia. Resources are available through the Quit website.
• Free information sessions – on the health effects of smoking and second-hand smoking, and information on how to quit. Bilingual educators are available, in a number of community languages, to attend community groups and English classes.
• Scholarships – to health, education and welfare workers fluent in English and in another language to train as Quit educators. Some training participants go on to work with the Multicultural Project and some continue to work with their organisations promoting Quit messages.
• Community Support Grants – these are available each year to support groups or organisations from culturally diverse communities to organise a project that promotes smoke-free messages within their communities.
• Quitline using the interpreter service – for people who speak a language other than English and want to talk to a Quit adviser. Callers can contact Quitline 13 7848 and ask for this service or agencies can refer clients using the Multicultural Fax referral available through the Quit website.
• Working with ethnic media – including radio, newspapers, ethnic publications and community television to promote information on stopping smoking in a variety of community languages.

• Quitline Tel. 13 7848 (13 QUIT)
• Your doctor
• Pharmacies
• Migrant resource centres
• Community centres
• Ethnic organisations

• In some communities, smoking rates may be much higher than the national average.
• Help and information are available in a range of community languages.
• Call Quitline on 13 7848 (13 QUIT) for the cost of a local call.

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