Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs

Smoking and Tobacco Cessation

Despite increased national and state attention to tobacco control in recent years, tobacco use continues to be a pressing public health problem for many groups, including pregnant and reproductive age women. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in the U.S.16.6 percent of pregnant women aged 15 to 44 reported past month cigarette use in 2004-2005, including more than a quarter (26.4 percent) of pregnant women aged 18 to 25.  AMCHP works to strengthen the capacity of states to develop, implement and evaluate tobacco prevention and cessation programs for women of reproductive age. Our goal is to prevent smoking among women and identify effective cessation policies and programs.

AMCHP is participates in the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit, serving as the co-chair of the State Outreach Working Group and participating on the Policy Working Group. In addition, AMCHP is part of the Partners for Effective Tobacco Control coalition, led by The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the Tobacco Issues Forum, convened by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.  Through these alliances, AMCHP is able to enhance its partnerships at the state and national level to accomplish tobacco prevention goals. AMCHP tobacco cessation activities are supported by the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health.

Project Areas

• Action Learning Lab: Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Among Women of Reproductive Age*
  • Round 1, Phase I: Setting the Stage for Action *
  • Round 1, Phase II: Taking Action *
  • Round 2, Phase I: Setting the Stage for Action *
  • Round 2, Phase II: Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Among Women of Reproductive Age *
  • Mini-Grant Initiative
  • Techinical Assistance Conference Calls for State Action Learning Lab Teams*
  • Women and Tobacco: Sustaining Partnerships Meeting *
• Conference Call Series: State Outreach Group, National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit *
• AMCHP Annual Conference: Workshop on Women and Tobacco (F6) (webcast)

Related Products

• Tobacco Cessation Technical Assitance Outreach Call, January 2008 - The Consumer Demand Initiative: Helping More Smokers Quit
  This technical assistance call provided information about strategies to increase consumer demand for tobacco cessation services and products, and provided participants with an example of how the state of Maryland has been using these strategies.
  
  • Todd Phillips, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager at the Academy for Educational Development
  • Carlo C. DiClemente, Ph.D., Director, MD QUIT Resource Center and Lippitz Professor of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County
  • Presentation
  • http://www.tobacco-cessation.org/ini_consumer.htm
  • http://www.tobacco-cessation.org/PDFs/ConsumerDemandReport09_07l.pdf
• Fresh Inspirations: A Survey of MCH Activities to Help Pregnant Women Stop Smoking
  (Survey Report -- September 2000) [PDF]

Other Resources

• Changes in Medicaid: Implications for Tobacco Cessation Services - from the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit
• Implementation of Pregnancy-Specific Guidelines for Smoking Cessation – This new how-to manual from the Partnership for Smoke-Free Families (PSF) is designed to help address institutional barriers clinicians face in implementing smoking cessation. It contains valuable lessons learned from the PSF program, recommendations for program implementation and samples of program materials. The manual is designed to provide organizations with information needed to create similar programs in their own unique health care settings. Copies of the executive summary and a limit of one manual per organization are available by calling 919-843-7663 or emailing info@helppregnantsmokersquit.org.
• Medicaid Educational Package – The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit, in collaboration with the Center for Tobacco Cessation, created an informational package for state government officials and advocates to help educate decision-makersabout the importance of comprehensive tobacco treatment under Medicaid for pregnant women. If you would like to receive a hard copy, call 919-843-7663 or email info@helppregnantsmokersquit.org
• Women and Smoking: Dispelling the Myths, Countering the Messages – Developed by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in February 2004, this presentation provides state with information they can use to educate others on the impact tobacco use has on women. In addition, states can input specific state data in certain parts of the presentation that is unique to their state.
• Report Card from National Women's Law Center – A report released in September 2003 by the National Women's Law Center and the Center for Women's Health at Oregon Health & Science University, Women and Smoking, provides a comprehensive assessment of women's smoking-related health conditions and policies that are proven to help reduce smoking among women and girls. Each state is graded individually, and then the nation is given a grade on 11 health status indicators. The strength of state tobacco control policies is also evaluated through 10 policy indicators.
• Case Studies – The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit is developing case studies on partnerships between the state Medicaid agency, state tobacco control programs, state maternal and child health programs and others to promote prevention and cessation of tobacco among pregnant women. This case study is on the partnership between the Medicaid Agency in Utah and the Utah Department of Health, and the outstanding media campaign that has resulted.

Related Web Sites

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention
• U.S. Surgeon General's Reports Related to Smoking
• Tobacco Information and Prevention Source
• American Legacy Foundation
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
• National Conference on Tobacco or Health
• National African American Tobacco Prevention Network

Staff Contacts

Last Updated January 30, 2008

*pages coming soon