Tobacco Prevention: A Top Priority

• Preventing youth from beginning tobacco use

• Helping people quit

• Reducing exposure to secondhand smoke

• Reducing tobacco use in high-risk groups

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www.doh.wa.gov a healthy dose of information

Reducing Tobacco Use in High-Risk Groups

Tobacco use among some groups, such as people with less income or education, or members of racial and ethnic minorities, is significantly higher than for the general population.  Often, these groups also have less access to healthcare and other resources that would help them treat their illnesses.  The result is a higher rate of death and disease from tobacco use.

In 2001, the Tobacco Program convened the Cross Cultural Workgroup on Tobacco, which included organizations from culturally diverse populations, existing Tobacco Program contractors, and others working to address health disparities.  These representatives assessed their communities' current tobacco prevention efforts and organizations, and made recommendations for the Strategic Plan for Identifying and Eliminating Tobacco-Related Health Disparities in Washington State (March 2004).

In January 2004, the Tobacco Program convened the Tobacco Disparities Advisory Committee to advise the program on issues related to implementation of the strategic plan.  In addition, contractors in each of the five high-risk communities were funded to begin activities in their communities.

Together with its advisory partners, the department identified and is implementing activities to eliminate tobacco use and reduce exposure to deadly secondhand smoke in these high-risk populations. 

More information about differences in tobacco use

• Learn more about the Department of Health's efforts to reduce tobacco use among high-risk populations (PDF 47KB)
• Adult Smoking Rates in Washington: A Report on Current Disparities (March 2007) (PDF 1,771 KB)
  • Appendix (PDF 22KB)
• Tobacco Health Disparities Update bulletin
  • December 2005 (PDF 303 KB)
  • September 2006 (PDF 330 KB)
  • February 2007 (PDF 308 KB)
  • June 2007 (PDF 101 KB)
• View the Strategic Plan for Identifying and Eliminating Tobacco-Related Health Disparities in Washington State (March 2004) - Full report (PDF 572 KB)  Overview (PDF 173 KB)
• Learn more about the Tobacco Disparities Advisory Committee

• Case study: Eliminating Tobacco Related Health Disparities Through Strategic Planning and Community Engagement (PDF 67 KB)

• Resource: Tribal Partnerships (PDF 418 KB)

• Case study: Establishing Effective Tobacco Control Partnerships Between Tribes and External Agencies  (PDF 151 KB)
   

• View information about tobacco use in Washington for specific populations:
   

  African Americans	Native American
  Asian/Pacific Islander	Sexual minority
  Hispanic

• The Tobacco Program worked with community groups to assess tobacco use issues in their communities:* 

African Americans (PDF  299 KB)	Rural (PDF 300 KB)
Asian/Pacific Islander (PDF  433 KB)	Sexual minority (PDF 183 KB)
Hispanic (PDF 96 KB)

Where to find anti-tobacco information in your:

• Cross-cultural community

• County

• Tribe

• Educational Service District

Tobacco use rates in Washington State

Tobacco use rates by county

Links to external sites of interest**

• Fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
  • Pattern of Tobacco Use Among Women and Girls
  • African Americans and Tobacco
  • American Indians and Alaska Natives and Tobacco
  • Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Tobacco
  • Hispanics and Tobacco
     

*These assessments reflect the views of community members as indicated in interviews with the authors and are not necessarily the views of the Department of Health.

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** Links to external resources are provided as a public service for educational purposes only. External links do not imply endorsement by the Washington State Department of Health of any political, commercial, promotional or other proprietary content that may be included in linked Web sites.

Linked external Web pages are routinely monitored by the Department for materials that advocate for political outcomes. If you find any materials on a directly linked Web page that advocates for, or against, any political candidates, ballot measures, or referendums, please contact us immediately so that the link may be promptly removed.

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Last Update : 03/25/2008 09:24 AM
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