Indigenous smoking 'key' to health gap

A high smoking rate within indigenous communities is adding to the life-expectancy gap between black and white Australia, the Heart Foundation lobby group says.

It has unveiled a plan to turn the situation around, including a call for specialist tobacco workers to be sent into communities.

Currently around 50 per cent of indigenous people smoke, compared with just 19 per cent of all Australians.

The foundation's tobacco spokesman, Maurice Swanson, says much of the difference in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is due to high rates of cardiovascular and other diseases caused by tobacco.

"The Heart Foundation is committed to helping to close the gap (on) cardiovascular health outcomes," Mr Swanson said in a statement.

"Reducing the prevalence and uptake of smoking among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is critical to achieving this goal."

To that end, the foundation wants governments to "provide funding and training for specialist tobacco workers, with additional funding for specialist workers to support pregnant women in their quitting attempts".

On Monday, a Save the Children report revealed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than their non-indigenous counterparts.

Deaths were due to limited access to healthcare services and poor nutrition, housing and social conditions, the report found.

The Heart Foundation says a "culturally appropriate" advertising campaign should be launched to warn of the dangers of smoking.

Indigenous organisations should be encouraged to become smoke-free.

And all interventions should be carefully evaluated to see what works best, the foundation argues.

The Heart Foundation's "indigenous tobacco control position statement" will be launched on Tuesday ahead of the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference in Darwin.

Last month, the federal government's National Preventative Health Taskforce delivered its blueprint to make Australia the healthiest country in the world by 2020.

It recommended boosting tobacco tax to ensure the average price of a packet of 30 cigarettes would rise from $13.50 to $20 within three years, as a way of reducing smoking rates across the country.