Learning Objectives: Identify and compare: (1) national and state health status measures on the effects of smoking on women and girls, and (2) national and state policies addressing smoking among women and girls.
Abstract: Smoking is a critical women’s health issue. Twenty-two percent of adult women smoke, the number of girls who smoke is rising, and lung cancer is the leading cancer killer among American women. Adding insult to injury, the tobacco companies are targeting women and girls in their advertising.
The National Women’s Law Center will issue a groundbreaking report addressing smoking among women and girls. Working with Dr. Michele Berlin at the Oregon Health and Science University, the Center will build upon the sources used and partnerships created in its highly successful initiative, Making the Grade on Women’s Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card. The report will analyze health data on the effects of smoking on women and girls and state and federal policies addressing the problem, and will grade and rank the states and nation. The report will supplement existing tobacco control efforts and uniquely contribute to them by marrying comprehensive data on the full range of smoking-related health conditions to an evaluation of policies that can address those conditions, and by providing accountability through grades and ranks.
The report will bring a much-needed women’s health voice to the tobacco control fight and its presentation at this conference will facilitate and strengthen partnerships among broad groups of advocates. Participants will be able to identify and compare national and state health status and policy indicators on women and smoking that will inform their advocacy and public education efforts. In anticipation of an early 2003 release, the types and importance of data and policies evaluated in the report will be highlighted.
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