Comprehensive Tobacco Prevention and Cessation

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Submission Date: December 2009

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: West Virginia

States/Territories Involved: West Virginia

Domain Addressed:

Environmental Approaches

Public Health Issue:

  • West Virginia has the third highest adult smoking rate in the country and tobacco use costs the state well over a billion for health care and another billion in lost productivity annually.
  • Comprehensive strategies are strongly recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for preventing and reducing tobacco use  – including increasing the price of tobacco products, conducting mass media campaigns, developing cessation interventions, reducing out-of-pocket costs for treatment, and instituting smoking bans and restrictions in public places.

Program Action:

  • The Division of Tobacco Prevention implements a research-based, comprehensive tobacco control program based upon Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and recommendations of the independent Task Force on Community Preventive Services.
  • Program components include integrated dual regional tobacco prevention networks; community-based programs and their associated networks; youth and school programs and their associated networks; eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke; eliminating health disparities; cessation services, including a tobacco quitline; specifically-targeted media support; and evaluation.
  • A Regional Tobacco Prevention Coalition Coordinator network is a group of ten coordinators located around the State based in ten, five-county areas who work full- time facilitating tobacco prevention and the WV Clean Indoor Air movement in local communities. This network has been instrumental in development of at least one active local coalition in every county in the State and in achieving positive effects addressing clean indoor air.

Impact/Accomplishments:

  • All of West Virginia’s fifty-five counties now have a clean indoor air regulation and a representative tobacco prevention coalition.
  • Almost all counties now have regulations requiring restaurants to be smoke-free.
  • The Tobacco quitline has a documented quit rate of thirty-two percent and a return on investment for quitline services and associated media support of more than $7 for every $1 spent.
  • The percentage of West Virginia high school students who say they’ve never used tobacco has significantly increased over seven years of youth programming, suggesting that these efforts are helping to cultivate a culture in which youth feel empowered to reject tobacco.

Program Areas:

Tobacco

State Contact Information:

WV
Bruce W. Adkins
West Virginia Bureau for Public Health
304-558-1743
bruceadkins@wvdhhr.org

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