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Hispanic Health Program
REDUCING TOBACCO
RELATED DISPARITIES
WHAT IS THE PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM?
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Smoking is responsible
for 87% of lung cancer deaths in the United States, and is the
leading cause of cancer deaths among Hispanics/Latinos. |
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Cigarette smoking
among Hispanic/Latino high school seniors declined from 35.7% in 1977 to
20.6% in 1989; however, smoking prevalence has been increasing in
the 1990s — from 21.7% in 1990 to 27.3% in 1999. |
WHAT HAS CDC
ACCOMPLISHED?
Hispanic/Latino Adult
Tobacco Survey (ATS)
CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health (OSH) is working to modify the
Adult Tobacco Survey instrument to be culturally appropriate for
Hispanic/Latino communities. In the next two years the Hispanic/Latino
instrument, accompanied by a detailed training manual, will be implemented
in several communities as part of a pilot survey. OSH is forming work
groups to review the ATS for specific Hispanic/Latino subgroups.
Expert Panel
OSH convened a Hispanic/Latino expert panel in August 2002, "Effective
Tobacco Control in Hispanic/Latino Communities: Un Intercambio de
Ideas." The panel was composed of about 30 researchers, program
planners, communicators, and community advocates. The primary purpose of
the meeting was to identify key issues related to tobacco control in
Hispanic/Latino communities to help OSH and its partners better serve
their needs. Specific topics included surveillance and other research,
evaluation of the tobacco control programs, program and policy approaches,
and health communication strategies.
Youth Tobacco Survey
(YTS)
OSH has provided technical assistance to various states in applying the
YTS over-sampling techniques to examine youth tobacco behavior among
Hispanics/Latinos.
WHAT ARE THE NEXT
STEPS?
Preventing tobacco use
requires national commitment. CDC will continue to support programs which
will help minority populations to understand the dangers of smoking and
help them to decrease their smoking habits. If effective tobacco control
strategies are implemented, we will achieve the Healthy People 2010
objectives of reducing the percentage of the all U.S. populations who
smoke cigarettes and prevent more than four million deaths that would
otherwise occur due to tobacco-related diseases.
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OSH’s Strategic Plan has the following goal strategies for
identifying and eliminating tobacco-related disparities
among specific population groups: |
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Develop significant terms and definitions relevant for the work on
tobacco-related disparities. |
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Increase collaborations with existing national partners and new
partners representing populations at risk for tobacco-related
disparities. |
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Increase the availability of data (quantitative and qualitative)
that guide work on tobacco-related disparities. |
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Increase the capacity and infrastructure of states, territories,
tribal support centers, national networks, and disparately
affected populations to address tobacco-related disparities. |
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Increase the level of community competency and capacity in
disparately affected populations to ensure implementation of
evidence-based interventions for (1) preventing initiation among
youth and young adults; (2) promoting quitting among adults and
youth; and (3) reducing exposure to secondhand smoke. |
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For more information, contact the National Center
for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP),
Mailstop K11,
4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30341: (770)
488-5555:
ccdinfo@cdc.gov:
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/. |
Back to the Hispanic/Latino Populations Page
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