New award promotes smokefree Maori speakers

World Smokefree Day 31 May

New award promotes smokefree Maori speakers

Tomorrow is World Smokefree Day and to mark the occasion a new award to promote Maori language and health has been announced.

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori – the Maori Language Commission and the Health Sponsorship Council Auahi Kore smoking cessation programme have been promoting smokefree Maori language environments together for the past eight years.

This year Auahi Kore will sponsor a new health award as part of the Maori Language Week Awards to recognise innovative use of reo Maori by a health organisation during Maori Language Week (last week of July).

"We want to encourage health service providers to think of Maori language as an asset to health and to promote their services in the Maori language.

"The incidence of smoking among Maori is declining but is still high. At the same time the number of Maori language speakers is slowly increasing but is still lower than we'd like," says Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori Chief Executive Huhana Rokx.

"This new award offers opportunities for health organisations to incorporate Maori language into their work and offers another choice for those in need of a substitute to reach for something different – the chance to get on the road with te reo and give Maori language a try," says Huhana.

More information about Maori Language Week and Awards can be found at www.koreromaori.co.nz

ENDS

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