Tobacco use prevention and control: implications for Native Hawaiian communities

Despite the fact that the State of Hawai'i has the second lowest smoking prevalence rate in the nation, a higher proportion of Native Hawaiians continue to smoke cigarettes. Three data sources are examined and reveal that tobacco use and the health impact of tobacco use disproportionately affects Native Hawaiian adults and youths in Hawai'i. Studies have documented that dissemination of the approaches and methods shown to be effective will reduce the number of young people who become addicted to tobacco, increase the success rate of people trying to quit using tobacco, decrease the exposure of nonsmokers to environmental tobacco smoke, and decrease the burden of tobacco-related diseases and death. Strategies recommended for reducing tobacco use among Native Hawaiians include: (1) the development of collaboration with local school districts to implement school-based prevention programs in conjunction with community-based and media-based activities and (2) the Native Hawaiian Health Programs developing activities to implement the "5 A's" for brief clinical interventions.