Tobacco Control State Highlights Report Shows Limitations in Existing Data and Reporting on AA and NHPIs

APPEAL commends the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its new report, released January 25, which shows how each of the 50 states and DC is doing in implementing proven strategies that reduce tobacco use and reports state-specific data on prevalence rates by race/ethnicity. The CDC’s Tobacco Control State Highlights 2012 shows an effort to report data on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities. However, what the report reveals is that there continue to be severe limitations in data on Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans.

APPEAL commends the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its new report, released January 25, which shows how each of the 50 states and DC is doing in implementing proven strategies that reduce tobacco use and reports state-specific data on prevalence rates by race/ethnicity. The CDC’s Tobacco Control State Highlights 2012 shows an effort to report data on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities. However, what the report reveals is that there continue to be severe limitations in data on Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans.

Due to a variety of reasons, data collection and reporting standards often continue to lump together over thirty Asian American ethnic groups into aggregate “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander” categories. For Asian Americans, data on an aggregated “Asian” category that groups together men and women show an artificially low rate of tobacco use that masks diversity within the community and very high rates of tobacco use within some Asian American subgroups—especially among males. Another consequence of data collection methods is that sample sizes are often too small to be reliable and data cannot be reported on for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders. Some steps that could be taken to address this issue are: over-sampling for members of understudied AA and NHPI ethnic subgroups, reporting pooled data from multiple years of a study, conducting interviews in languages other than English, or sponsoring special reports on understudied groups.

“Disaggregating data into ethnic subgroups, conducting surveys in-language, and oversampling for AA and NHPIs in research studies is critical for understanding disparities in tobacco use,” said Rod Lew, executive director of APPEAL. “Without accurate data on specific AA and NHPI ethnic subgroups, the ability to fund, develop and implement culturally tailored tobacco control programs are severely limited.”

When reports cite aggregated measures of tobacco use for AAs and NHPIs, it makes it seem like tobacco is not a problem in the community. As a result, policymakers do not prioritize segments of the AA and NHPI who are disproportionately impacted by tobacco. APPEAL calls for accurate data collection on diverse communities as a step to eliminating health disparities.

APPEAL Applauds the Ban on the Sale of Cigarettes to Youth in Vietnam

Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL) commends efforts to reduce smoking in Vietnam by making it illegal to sell cigarettes to youth under 18 years of age or to employ youth of the same age to sell tobacco products.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2013

Contact:
Rod Lew, Executive Director, APPEAL
(510) 318-7814
[email protected]

APPEAL Applauds the Ban on the Sale of Cigarettes to Youth in Vietnam

Oakland, CA – February 13, 2013 – Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL) commends efforts to reduce smoking in Vietnam by making it illegal to sell cigarettes to youth under 18 years of age or to employ youth of the same age to sell tobacco products.

The strategy to curb youth smoking accompanies a ban on all forms of tobacco advertising and smoking in public places. APPEAL hopes that these efforts will reduce smoking both in Vietnam and in Vietnamese American communities.

“Due to the high proportion of Asian Americans that are immigrants, changing cultural norms to make smoking less acceptable in Asian countries can have a profound impact on attitudes and reducing smoking in Asian American communities,” said Rod Lew, executive director of APPEAL. “Estimates of smoking prevalence among Vietnamese Americans indicate that nearly a quarter to over half of Vietnamese American men smoke.”

Studies in the U.S. show that nearly 100% of daily smokers try their first cigarette as youth or young adults, so reducing youth access to cigarettes is a crucial part of preventing tobacco-related disease, disability, and death. APPEAL applauds efforts to curb smoking among youth and young adults in Vietnam, where smoking-related disease causes an estimated 40,000 deathes each year, and is expected to rise to 70,000 deaths per year by 2030.

Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL), founded in 1994, is a national organization working towards social justice and a tobacco-free Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community. APPEAL’s mission is to champion social justice and achieve parity and empowerment for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders by supporting and mobilizing community-led movements through advocacy and leadership development on critical public health issues. To learn more about APPEAL, please visit www.appealforcommunities.org.