As you have seen over this series of articles, fighting the tobacco epidemic in Alaska requires many people and organizations working together. ANTHC’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (ANTHC TPC) collaborates with a wide variety of partners to address the issue of tobacco in local communities, to share tobacco-related resources and to provide training opportunities for advocates and health care professionals. Our partners include our Tribal health organizations for trainings and technical assistance to improve systems to “Ask, Advise and ...

Tobacco use is a leading health concern for Alaska; in fact, about 1 out of 3 Alaska Native people use tobacco. To protect the health of our people, ANTHC has made it a top priority to provide tobacco-quit resources and reduce the use of tobacco within the Alaska Tribal Health System. In 2010, the ANTHC Board of Directors supported the development of an ongoing initiative to increase tobacco cessation services for patients at ANMC by ensuring that every patient is ...

Sixty-six percent of smokers see a physician every year. In Alaska, 67 percent of smokers and 62 percent of smokeless tobacco users want to quit, according to Alaska Tobacco Facts. Over the last several weeks, we have shared information on tobacco use among Alaska Native people, the power of strong anti-tobacco policy and the emerging threat from new tobacco products. All of these are proven interventions to turn the tide of the tobacco epidemic among Alaska Native people, but perhaps ...

Each day, more than 3,200 people younger than 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette and the tobacco industry is using old marketing tactics for new products. Evidence indicates that the more young people are exposed to cigarette advertising and promotional activities, the more likely they are to smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health. Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), commonly known as e-cigarettes, are some of the newer products on ...

As tobacco use among Alaska Native people remains stubbornly high, many communities and organizations across the state are using public health policy solutions as an effective means to curb tobacco use. Policy solutions include smoke-free laws, tobacco-free school policies, smoke-free housing policies and tobacco tax increases. Policy solutions are proven public health strategies to reduce tobacco use and eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. ANTHC is supportive of these efforts and adopted its own tobacco-free workplace policy in 2006. Smoke-free Communities: ...

Alaska has made great strides in reducing tobacco use over the years, but to this day, tobacco is still the number one preventable cause of death and disease in Alaska and across the nation. Approximately 600 Alaskans die every year from direct tobacco use; this is more than deaths from suicide, motor vehicle crashes, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, homicide, HIV/AIDS and influenza combined. Among Alaska Native people, more than 1 in 3 adults (38 percent) are current smokers and ...