Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Tobacco use prevention and control may be the most important investment in chronic disease prevention that any state can make, and New York (NY) has made a significant investment over the last twenty years to reduce youth tobacco initiation, promote evidence-based cessation, and prevent exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and, now, e-cigarette aerosols. The program has increasingly focused on populations disproportionately affected by tobacco use, and health equity and racial justice are central to our work. NY’s investment in tobacco control has produced some of the strongest policy initiatives in the nation (e.g., highest state excise tax, comprehensive clean indoor air, retailer licensing, robust enforcement) and some of the lowest smoking prevalence by both youth and adults in the nation. Despite clear victories reducing tobacco prevalence in NY, tobacco use remains the single most preventable cause of morbidity and premature mortality. Over 22,000 New Yorkers die annually from a tobacco-related disease and 650,000 live with a tobacco-related chronic illness. Significant disparities exist in vulnerable and underserved populations where smoking rates are 25% to 100% higher than in the general population. The introduction of an entirely new class of emerging tobacco products creates additional challenges to all aspects of programming that, when designed, did not account for the current youth e-cigarette epidemic. Because of the lack of regulation, atypical challenges exist, including misinformation campaigns, the proliferation of flavored products that appeal to underage youth, and high-tech devices that efficiently deliver nicotine in high doses. This predatory marketing scheme by an industry with no moral center has produced an epidemic of youth use and strong appeal to young adults. For Component 1, NY will support a comprehensive program of community and state interventions that create the conditions for effective policies and encourage the health care system to improve delivery of tobacco dependence treatments, both supported by evidence-based mass media campaigns. All efforts will focus on the populations in NY most likely to be using tobacco products, including those with low socioeconomic status or behavioral health conditions (disparity requirements 1 and 2). NY has already begun to address initiation of emerging tobacco products (disparity requirement 3) head on and will continue to do so with Component 1 interventions. For Component 2, the Department will continue to fully fund the NYS Smokers’ Quitline and build on its two decades of success providing barrier-free services to callers. Quitlines provide highly effective services but can further their reach by becoming more integrated into broad health system change efforts. In NY, the Quitline provides direct services to tobacco users and increasingly interacts with providers, provides information about insurance cessation benefits, especially Medicaid, and collaborates with clinicians to improve outcomes. In this way, the Quitline’s impact is multiplied by its interaction with the health care system. Component 2 funds will amplify this effort by providing an additional media resource to enhance awareness of Medicaid benefits in providers and tobacco users while promoting the cessation role of providers and the Quitline. The Quitline will expand its services to meet the needs of those trying to quit vaping.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
