New research has highlighted the link between smoking, ill health and inequality in the North East - showing that more than four in ten households with smokers in our region live in poverty.
The figures, from the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) highlight that there are 112,000 households across the wider region with at least one smoker where people are living in poverty.
Citing data that the average smoker is paying just shy of £2,000 a year for their tobacco, ASH have also highlighted that according to their research 17,177 people are "economically inactive" due to the impact of smoking on their health.
Go here for the latest NHS news and breaking North East public health news
The charity also says that smokers are two-and-a-half times more likely to require social care support at home, and that smokers need care, on average, 10 years earlier than non-smokers.
In the North East, 42% of households with a smoker live in poverty, this is the highest proportion in the country and compares to an average of 31% around England.
ASH's figures show there are 25,003 households with someone who smokes in poverty in County Durham. Other badly hit parts of our region are Newcastle (10,912), Northumberland (11,613) and Gateshead (9,540).
Commenting on the data, Ailsa Rutter OBE - who is director of the Fresh regional programme to tackle tobacco use, said: "We already know smoking causes death and disease but these appalling figures also show how tobacco addiction worsens poverty and misery on an industrial scale.
"Smoking harms our economy, harms job prospects and costs people years of active life.
Ms Rutter added that the "stress and the worry" of poverty made it harder to kick a smoking habit and said: "It is vital we give people in our poorest communities the support, the confidence and the means to stop.
She said it was a "scandal" that tobacco companies continued to make money from the industry contrasting that with the death and suffering of people in the North East. She also called on the Government to enforce measures requiring companies to pay towards smoking prevention.
Fresh is funded by councils around the region and has achieved the highest drop in the number of smokers of any area - between 2005 and 2019 adult smoking fell by 47% here.
Deborah Arnott - chief exec at ASH - added: "Smoking is the single largest driver of health inequalities in England and it is shocking that it’s contributing to more than two million adults living in poverty, concentrated in the most disadvantaged regions in the country.
“Behind every statistic is a human being. A real person, threatened by the debilitating health effects of smoking, and significantly poorer because of an addiction that started in childhood."
The UK Government has set out plans to bring forward a "tobacco control plan" and plans to achieve a "smokefree 2030". Ms Arnott said work towards this would be key to narrowing gaps in life expectancy and wellbeing in areas like ours.
Especially in the context of "levelling up", Ailsa has also called on the Government to ensure that the impact of smoking and alcohol on health inequalities forms part of the national agenda.
Last autumn, Maggie Throup - a minister in the Department of Health and Social Care - said in a Westminster Hall debate on the issue: "The burden of tobacco harms is not shared equally: smoking rates are far higher in poorer areas of the country, and among the lowest socioeconomic groups.
"Alongside the tragedy created by illness and early deaths, the NHS bears the heavy financial burden of £2.5 billion every year from smoking. In 2019-20, smoking was responsible for nearly half a million hospital admissions and around 64,000 deaths.
"The Government has set the bold ambition for England to be smoke free by 2030. To support that ambition, we have been building on the successes of our current tobacco control plan. We will soon publish a new plan with an even sharper focus on tackling health disparities.
"That new plan will form a vital part of the Government’s levelling-up agenda and will set out a comprehensive package of new policy proposals and regulatory changes, to enable us to meet our smoke-free 2030 ambition."
Back in 2013, Newcastle City Council was the driving force in creating the Local Government Declaration on Tobacco Control which sets out commitments at council level to slash the number of smokers.
