Two new programs to help young Nunavummiut quit or avoid smoking received funding from the federal government Wednesday.

In Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said just under $734,000 will be spent over two years for two youth programs in the territory, which has the highest smoking rate in Canada.

"We know it's a problem in the North, we see it all the time," Aglukkaq said during Wednesday's announcement.

"It's been an initiative that we've been trying to deal with for the last few years, and this is a another continuation of trying to address it."

Both programs involve youth — the For Youth By Youth trainer training program, which will be run by the Nunavut government, and the Quit to Win challenge program, which is run by the National Indian and Inuit Community Health Representatives Organization (NIICHRO) of Kahnawake, Que.

'Empower young people'

"Train a Trainer will bring in a number of young people from all the communities, and they will then go back and deliver the program," Aglukkaq said.

"The other one is a challenge program, to challenge various communities to quit smoking. So I think where we empower young people, the success rates are better."

The For Youth By Youth program, which received nearly $262,000 in federal funding, will train 32 youth from 16 Nunavut communities to educate their peers about the dangers of tobacco.

The Quit to Win challenge, which received $472,000, is a contest for aboriginal youth aged eight to 17 who agree to quit smoking for six weeks.

NIICHRO executive director Debbie Dedam-Montour said the Quit to Win program may seem to target a young age group, but it may not be young enough.

Dedam-Montour recalled the case of a four-year-old boy whose mother asked him why he was putting on his boots and coat: "You know, he's going out to have a smoke," she said. "It's cute, but it's sad."

The first Quit to Win challenge in Nunavut will take place in May.

High smoking rates, especially among new mothers

Statistics Canada figures show about 46 per cent of Nunavummiut aged 12 and older say they smoke daily, compared to 16.5 per cent of Canadians overall.

Smoking is particularly epidemic among pregnant women in Nunavut.

Nunavut health officials who recently surveyed women who came to Iqaluit to deliver their babies said upwards of 80 per cent said they smoke regularly.

In a study published this week, Danish researchers found that smoking while pregnant limits a key enzyme in the umbilical cord, restricting blood flow between the mother and fetus.

That causes a 10 per cent drop in the weight of babies of smokers, compared to babies born to non-smokers, said Dr. Steen Stender, the study's co-author.

"We identified an enzyme that produces a substance that dilates the vessel, and this substance is produced in smaller amounts in smoking women," Stender said.

"The child becomes two centimetres shorter, and the head circumference becomes one centimetre lower."

Stender said it's not yet clear if a child's brain suffers any long-term effects from early tobacco exposure, but he said the finding is still significant.

"You are reducing or retarding the growth of such an important organ as the brain," he said.

But some good news: the study found that if an expectant mother quits smoking within six weeks of becoming pregnant, there was no noticeable negative effect on the baby.

Stender's study was published in Tuesday's issue of Circulation: The journal of the American Heart Association.