Tobacco Use Is Still the Leading Cause of Preventable Death
Tobacco use continues to be the number one cause of preventable death in the United States and around the world. Tobacco killed one hundred million people worldwide in the 20th century and is on track to kill one billion people in the 21st century.1
In the US, tobacco use kills about 480,000 people per year — more than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, homicides, and suicides combined.2
The Role of SBHCs in Tobacco Use Prevention & Education
School-based health centers (SBHCs) and wellness centers can help prevent tobacco use in students through health education and are well-positioned to provide tobacco cessation services.
- One of the unique advantages of a SBHC is its ability to go beyond the provision of clinical medical services and engage in public health activities at the schoolwide level.
- SBHC staff provide health education in classrooms, conduct schoolwide screenings, hold youth and parent education groups, and work with school staff to identify high-risk students.
- This ability of SBHCs to fuse clinical care and public health makes them well-suited for many prevention activities, such as tobacco prevention and cessation.
Peer education programs have demonstrated effectiveness in preventing youth tobacco use.3
- Young people are more receptive to tobacco prevention messages delivered by their peers than those delivered by their teachers.4,5
- For the peer educators, providing tobacco prevention education to their friends provides an opportunity for positive youth development.5
- SBHCs who are already providing group education should consider peer programs as a way to enhance the effectiveness of their prevention education.
Tobacco Use Is Typically Started & Established During Adolescence
- Approximately 90% of adult smokers tried their first cigarette before age 18 and nearly 700 children become regular smokers each day. 6
- E-cigarettes, including vapes, e-pens, e-pipes, and e-hookah, are known collectively as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and are the most commonly used tobacco product among high school and middle school students. While cigarette use is on the decline, middle and high school students’ use of e-cigarettes has increased exponentially, with 1 in 10 middle and high school students reported having used e-cigarettes, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey.7
- 14.1% of high school students (1 in 7) and 3.3% (or 1 in 30) of middle school students reported current e-cigarette use.8
Case Study
Students at Jordan High School in Los Angeles. Photo: The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health
The most effective way to reach young people with prevention education is through their peers.
School-based health centers excel at engaging youth in peer-to-peer education campaigns to improve population health.
The California School-Based Health Alliance and The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health – which serves as the Los Angeles Unified School District’s backbone health entity – partnered to educate high school students on tobacco and vaping prevention.
Youth learned about nicotine addiction, e-cigarette ingredients, and the harmful health effects of smoking and vaping from the Stanford University Tobacco Prevention Toolkit and then created projects to share their knowledge schoolwide.
Students at Washington High School in Los Angeles. Photo: The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health
Student Advisory Boards (SAB) at eight LAUSD high schools conducted a joint in-person and social media campaign to mark World No Tobacco Day to educate students on:
- E-cigarette ingredients and health dangers;
- Myths that perpetuate smoking and vaping;
- Misinformation and tactics the tobacco industry uses to attract underage consumers.
Youth leaders reached additional youth through interactive social media polls that educated them on the concept of addiction and the chemicals inside JUUL pods.
Students at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles. Photo: The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health
In-person events held at schools urged students to commit to stop smoking and vaping or to pledge to never start. One SAB participant participated in a press conference to spotlight how tobacco companies target young people and the African-American community specifically with menthol cigarettes.
Youth engagement teaches students valuable leadership skills while also empowering all students how to turn knowledge about a health challenge into advocacy and preventive action.
“I learned that [big tobacco] spends $1 million a minute on advertising.”
“What shocked me was … that cigarettes are responsible for the death of a lot of people but [tobacco companies] don’t get criminally charged”
“I was surprised how much I ended up learning from other students when I shared the information I got during trainings with them.”
These projects are supported with grants from the California Department of Education Tobacco-Use Prevention Education Program.
