Tobacco Use Issues and Opportunities

1
Tobacco UseIssues and Opportunities

• American Indians
• and
• Alaska Natives

2
Traditional Role of Tobacco

• Tobacco holds a traditional and sacred role for
  many American Indian people.
• Tobacco is used appropriately for prayer,
  offerings, gift-giving, medicine.
• Traditional tobacco is often a blend of natural
  plants such as red willow, mullein, bearberry,
  in addition to tobacco.

3
Actual Causes Of Death In The United States. 2000
4
438,000 U.S. Deaths Attributable Each Year to
Cigarette Smoking
Average annual number of deaths, 1997--2001
Source MMWR 200554(25)625-8.
5
American Indians and Alaska Natives have the
highest rate of tobacco use (40.8) of any
racial/ ethnic group in the United States.
6
Current Cigarette Smoking by Region American
Indians/Alaska Natives, 1997-2000
HP 2010 Goal(12)
Source Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
System, 1997-2000
7
Cigarette Use among Youths Aged 12 to 17, by
Race/Ethnicity 2003
Percent Using in Past Month
Note Due to low precision, estimates for Native
Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders are not
shown. Source 2003 NSDUH Summary of Findings
8
Smokeless Tobacco Use
Fig 4.5
Percent
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority
Groups African Americans, American Indians and
Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders, and Hispanics A Report of the Surgeon
General. Atlanta U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 1998.
9
Lung Cancer IncidenceAlaska Native, US White,
Southwest Indian
10
Cigarette Smoking Trends Adults, 1983-2002
Smoking on 1 or more of the previous 30
days. Source National Health Interview Surveys,
1983-2002, selected years, aggregate data
11
Habitual tobacco use is having a devastating
effect on the health of American Indian and
Alaska Native people.

• There is no clinical intervention available today
  that can reduce illness, prevent death, and
  increase quality of life
• more than
• effective tobacco treatment interventions!

12
IHS Directors Initiatives
Management of Chronic Disease Behavioral
Health Health Promotion/Disease Prevention
http//www.ihs.gov/NonMedicalPrograms/ DirInitiati
ves/index.cfm
13
(No Transcript)