The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61854

William L Furmanski, Center for Tobacco Cessation, 901 E Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20004, 202-585-3219, william.furmanski@cancer.org and Linda A. Bailey, JD, MHS, Center for Tobacco Cessation, American Cancer Society, 901 E. Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20004.

The challenge of tackling our nation’s number one preventable cause of premature death, tobacco use, continues to grow even in the face of emerging knowledge about effective tobacco cessation treatments and activities. Competing concerns in public health and safety, economic and fiscal dilemmas in public and private sectors, and complicating factors including state MSA spending, litigation against the tobacco industry, and new “reduced harm” products pose threats to tobacco cessation as a priority.

There is good news. The development of a roadmap, the National Blueprint for Disseminating and Implementing Evidence-Based Clinical and Community Strategies to Promote Tobacco Use Cessation, provides new impetus for efforts in tobacco cessation in the United States. The Blueprint was developed through a consortium of federal and non-governmental organizations interested in cessation. The document is based upon clinical and community interventions proven to be effective in recent guidelines and provides policy and intervention objectives for consumers, clinicians, systems, and communities. To achieve the Blueprint objectives, a companion implementation plan has been commissioned to drive the most important strategies.

This session will present priorities for action in tobacco cessation based upon the implementation plan developed by the Center for Tobacco Cessation through a six month planning grant. The presentation will include the results of an environmental scan of existing tobacco cessation activities and resources, identify non-traditional organizations involved or interested in cessation, introduce ideas integrating or expanding cessation programs and tactics at the state and community level, and explain how to evaluate these activities.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session participants will ...
• Understand how the national blueprint for tobacco cesation can be used as a resource.
• Be able to identify potential activities and stakeholders to achieve tobacco cessation objectives.
• Have new ideas on expanding tobacco cessation in their community in support of implementation of the tobacco cessation blueprint.

Keywords: Smoking Cessation, Collaboration

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.