Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases, and reduces the health of smokers in general. Quitting smoking lowers your risk for smoking-related diseases and can add years to your life.
Pennsylvania has set out to implement the first statewide comprehensive tobacco-use prevention program. State-level initiatives include a telephone quitline, efforts to counter tobacco marketing, surveillance of tobacco sales to minors, promotion of clinical-practice guidelines for assessment and treatment of tobacco addiction and program evaluation.
Annually, the PA Free Quitline provides services to over 13,000 Pennsylvanians. Participants are self-referred by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW. Providers refer by the Fax to Quit Program or electronic referral methods.
The Quitline offers: expert, confidential coaching to become tobacco free. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (patches, gum or lozenges), if available, and confirmation reports on patient progress.
Refer your clients by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW or register clients online @ PA QUITLOGIX.
Data
Pennsylvania's Strategic Plan for a Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program.
To compare Pennsylvania tobacco use information with other states and for national statistics about tobacco use, prevention, and control visit
CDC's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System
Additional Tobacco Prevention
and Control Statistics reports can be accessed through the Division of Health
Statistics:
Pennsylvania Tobacco Facts 2011/12 is a comprehensive report that provides
tobacco statistics regarding the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products,
the resulting health and financial costs of tobacco use, and the attitudes of
Pennsylvanians about smoking in public places. The 2011/12 report includes
recent data for estimates for prevalence of tobacco use, disparities of tobacco
use, and maternal use of tobacco during pregnancy.
Key Outcome Indicators Reports One-page reports that highlight key indicators, selected
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in their publication, Key
Outcome Indicators for Evaluating Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs, May
2005. Indicators are grouped by the four major goal areas of the tobacco
prevention and control program: preventing tobacco use among youth, promoting
smoking cessation among youth and adults, protecting nonsmokers
from secondhand smoke and eliminating tobacco-related health disparities;
and then by the time period in which the outcome can be measured.
Pennsylvania Adult Tobacco Survey 2005 Pennsylvania adult responses to survey
questions about their tobacco-related knowledge, behaviors and attitudes.
Included are the percent of smokers who have tried to quit in the past year and
the percent who are thinking of quitting in the next six
months; information about how harmful people think cigarette smoking is,
how many smokers were advised to quit by their doctor and how many people work
in places that have smoking restrictions.
Pennsylvania Youth Tobacco Survey 2010/11 High school and middle school student
responses to survey questions about their tobacco-related knowledge,
behaviors and attitudes.
Pennsylvania
Synar Survey is a
combined annual effort of four different state bureaus, private contractors and
youth volunteers to estimate the percentage of Pennsylvania cigarette retailers
who have violated the law by selling cigarettes to minors.
Clean Indoor Air Impact Report (PDF) Responses from the Adult Tobacco Survey about
whether people are more or less likely to visit restaurants and bars.
2018/2019 MPOWER Pennsylvania Tobacco Prevention and Control (PATPC) programming aligns with CDC goals and incorporates CDC’s best practice areas for a comprehensive tobacco control program. PATPC efforts to address these goals during the 2017/2018 state fiscal year (SFY) are summarized in this report using a modification of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) MPOWER framework: Monitor and Promote Prevention Policies; Protect People from Tobacco Smoke; Offer Help to Quit Tobacco; Warn about the Dangers of Tobacco; Enforce and Inform Policy Compliance; and Raise Community and Legislative Awareness.
Pennsylvania Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Collaboration Multiplier Analysis SFY2018
The Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control collaborates with chronic disease programs across the Bureau of Health Promotion and Risk Reduction to mobilize community expertise and address cross-cutting health issues. To assess the impact of collaboration, the Division utilizes Collaboration Multiplier, an interactive framework developed by Prevention Institute for strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration.
Resources
Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco (PACT)
PACT assists the
Department in strengthening the statewide information and education network on
the health impact of tobacco use on tobacco users and non-tobacco users, and
works with local shareholders to increase ability and activity on a local level
that provides the impetus needed to initiate a statewide grassroots campaign
focusing on tobacco pollution.
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
Works to protect children from exposure and addiction to tobacco by raising
awareness; changing public policies to limit the marketing and sales of tobacco
to children; altering the environment in which tobacco use and policy decisions
are made; and actively countering the tobacco industry and its special
interests. The Center also encourages youth advocacy to support policy change,
to hold tobacco control activities and to help educate peers on the dangers of
tobacco.
American Cancer Society
Provides smoking education, prevention and cessation programs and distributes
pamphlets, posters and exhibits on smoking.
American Heart Association
Promotes smoking intervention programs at schools, workplaces and health care
sites.
American Lung Association
Conducts programs addressing smoking cessation, prevention, and the protection
of nonsmokers' health and provides a variety of educational materials for the
public and health professionals. Click here view the American Lung
Association's Strategic Plan for a Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program in
Pennsylvania 2012-2017.