“Create physical and social environments, which promote health for all.”
In December, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the vision, mission and objectives for Healthy People 2020, providing evidence-based national goals for the next decade to improve public health in the United States. In short order, the U.S. Surgeon General then released her 2010 report, How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease confirming why it is so critical that we be bold in addressing this issue – “every cigarette does you damage.”
Healthy People 2020 has set forth an ambitious but achievable ten-year agenda with a stated vision of building “a society in which all people live long, healthy lives.” Specific to tobacco, goals plan to “reduce illness, disability, and death related to tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure.”
The Healthy People 2020 goals underscore that we know what works in driving down tobacco use, but we have to muster the will to do it. This is especially tough in times of economic downturn when budget shortfalls have routinely been addressed by cutting needed tobacco prevention and control programs from monies given to the states via the Master Settlement Agreement. The Healthy People 2020 target for adult smoking prevalence is 12 percent - ambitious given that the current smoking rate is nearly 21 percent. For youth, the goal is 16 percent and with the new Monitoring the Future data indicating that there is a continued stall in youth smoking declines and an uptick for 8th and 10th graders, we must act decisively. In order to stem the death and disease caused by tobacco, HHS has called for:
ü Fully funding tobacco control programs.
ü Increasing the price of tobacco products.
ü Enacting comprehensive smoke-free policies.
ü Controlling access to tobacco products.
ü Reducing tobacco advertising and promotion.
ü Implementing anti-tobacco media campaigns.
ü Encouraging and assisting tobacco users to quit.
We must also “create physical and social environments which promote health for all,” and that requires changing social norms around tobacco that demand tough, well-funded, evidence-based counter-marketing campaigns like truth®.
We applaud the many devoted public health leaders who contributed to this multi-year effort, two of whom are former and current Legacy Board members, Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary at HHS and Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who co-chaired the effort – as well as his co-chair, Shiriki Kumanyika. Congratulations!
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