How CDC's Office on Smoking and Health Works With States

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. CDC's Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) is the lead federal agency for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control, working to save lives and money by preventing and reducing commercial tobacco use. More than 80% of its budget supports state and local tobacco control.

Even people who have never heard of OSH have probably encountered its work: the Tips From Former Smokers ads on TV, radio and billboards; the 1-800-QUIT-NOW line that connects callers to their state quitline; news coverage of its reports on tobacco use and secondhand smoke; friends or relatives who quit with help it supports; and the smoke-free indoor air protections that its research helped expand.

The National Tobacco Control Program

The National Tobacco Control Program supports all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 8 U.S. territories and 28 tribal organizations — the only nationwide investment in comprehensive tobacco control. States use the funds to:

• prevent young people from using tobacco;
• reduce exposure to secondhand smoke;
• help people quit smoking;
• reduce disparities in tobacco use.

For every $1 spent on strong tobacco control programs, states see a $55 return, mostly in avoided health care costs for smoking-related illness.

Tips From Former Smokers

The Tips campaign profiles people from many backgrounds living with serious long-term health effects of smoking and secondhand smoke, and tells how those illnesses affect their families. It inspired 1 million people in the U.S. to quit smoking from 2012 to 2018. Tips connects smokers to a national texting portal and the free 1-800-QUIT-NOW quitline, and CDC helps state and territorial quitlines handle the surge in calls when the ads run. Because CDC develops, places and evaluates the ads, states can put their own money into ad time in places and periods CDC's campaign doesn't reach.

Tracking tobacco use

CDC funds data collection, evaluation, research and lab work that monitor tobacco use and its health effects. OSH supports the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and with the FDA supports the National Youth Tobacco Survey, the country's premier survey of youth tobacco use. National systems give states consistent, reliable, cost-effective data to evaluate their work.

How OSH helps states

• Documenting the problem. OSH produces Surgeon General's Reports on tobacco and publishes regular reports on use trends that states use to track progress, set priorities and reduce disparities.
• Finding what works. Its Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs guide explains how to plan, run and budget an evidence-based program, so states don't have to reinvent proven solutions.
• Technical assistance. OSH advises state programs, works with states and health systems to improve insurance coverage of quit-smoking treatment, and helps states share what works.
• Shared ads. Its Media Campaign Resource Center gives health departments access to existing tobacco education ads, including Tips, sparing them the cost of making their own.
• Reaching young people. The Empower Vape-Free Youth campaign encourages middle and high school educators to talk with students about the risks of e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction, and provides resources to help students avoid or quit vaping.
• Data tools. The State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System offers current and historical state tobacco data online for states, researchers, the media and the public.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "OSH Partners With States" (November 18, 2024); a work of the United States government in the public domain.