Vaping is a massive problem in the region where Danny Allende works, and although young Indigenous people are statistically more likely to take it up, he says it's a practice that doesn't discriminate. or signup to continue reading Mr Allende is the manager of Na Joomelah, a program aimed at tackling smoking and vaping among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Sydney and Wollongong. "It doesn't matter who you are, there's a lot of people vaping, particularly young people," he said.
"We've had some pretty scary stories of kids as young as Year 2 being caught with vapes at schools. "It's quite scary the amount of people we know are out there vaping but our job is to try and make that change and get our young people to see vaping in a different light." A new series of animations, co-designed with the Lung Foundation Australia and in consultation with young First Nations people, is starting to help make that change.
After running some youth focus groups, Na Joomelah settled on highlighting not just the health impacts of vaping but two other major topics of keen interest - the environment and sport. Since then the animations and accompanying fact sheets have been circulating in local schools, youth groups, on Na Joomelah's social media pages and at community events. "The stories we're hearing from young people is that they are listening to the resources, they're having more of a conversation about what vaping is actually doing to their body as opposed to not caring so .
