Reducing Tobacco Use Among
Underserved Populations
March 2008
Good health for all
Research shows that
tobacco use among some population groups is higher than for the general
population. These groups often have less access to prevention,
treatment, and other resources. These differences result in a
disparity or a disproportionate occurrence of tobacco-related death and
disease. Eliminating tobacco-related disparities is one of the four
central goals of the Department of Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Control
Program (Tobacco Program).
Strategic planning
The Tobacco Program convened the Cross Cultural Workgroup on Tobacco in
April 2001 to identify innovative ways of eliminating tobacco-related
disparities. The workgroup included organizations from culturally
diverse populations, existing Tobacco Program contractors, and others
working to address health disparities. In 2003, the workgroup
completed the Strategic Plan for Identifying and Eliminating
Tobacco-Related Health Disparities in Washington State, based on six
critical issues that needed to be addressed to eliminate tobacco-related
health disparities:
- Lack of sustained funding
- Lack of outreach and access to
programs and services
- Low priority of the tobacco issue
in high-risk communities
- Institutional racism
- Lack of focused resources
- Tobacco companies' targeting of
high-risk communities
The plan is a
comprehensive framework to guide statewide efforts to improve the health
of underserved populations. It identifies strategies needed to
prevent and reduce tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure among these
groups.
The Cross
Cultural Workgroup on Tobacco completed its planning work in September
2004. In January 2005, the Tobacco Program convened the Tobacco
Disparities Advisory Committee to guide efforts to implement the
strategic plan. Currently, this committee includes members of
racial/ethnic and low-income populations, and others with expertise in
community competency, policy development, health care, and funding
development. The Tobacco Program’s current cross-cultural
contractors serve on the program’s overall advisory committee to help
guide efforts to address disparities.
Ongoing
efforts
Since completion of the strategic
plan, the Tobacco Program has addressed many of the objectives within the
plan, including funding and training contractors in five culturally
diverse communities, and improving the appropriateness of its programs,
services, materials, advertising, and approaches to specific communities.
As the program looks toward the future, it is fully integrating its
efforts to identify and eliminate tobacco-related disparities into its new
five-year strategic plan.
Evaluation of the plan
The Tobacco Program continues to evaluate
the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Identifying and
Eliminating Tobacco-Related Health Disparities in Washington State
to ensure activities achieve desired outcomes. Although the
Tobacco Program has improved its surveys, materials, and activities to try
reach people of different cultures and languages, there is more to do.
A comprehensive approach to fighting tobacco use
Research shows that tobacco
prevention programs must conduct a comprehensive set of strategies to be
effective. The Washington State Tobacco Prevention and Control
Program provides services to help people quit, conducts public awareness
and media campaigns, supports local programs in communities and schools,
supports enforcement of policies to keep kids from accessing tobacco
products, and evaluates the effectiveness of program activities.
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