Health Disparities Related to Commercial Tobacco and Advancing Health Equity: An Overview

What to know

  • Health equity means that all people have a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
  • Achieving health equity requires:
  • Valuing every person and their health fairly.
  • Addressing problems with systems in our environment, unfair practices, and unjust conditions that can weaken the health of specific population groups.
  • Working with different population groups in specific, sensitive ways to address health conditions that affect them.
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Why it's important

Browse Information About Tobacco Related Health Disparities by Populations and Groups‎

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A commitment to health equity involves understanding health disparities related to commercial tobacco and factors that cause these disparities.A Several factors connect commercial tobacco with higher levels of disease, disability, and death in different population groups. For example:

  • The tobacco industry uses tailored marketing and advertising to target some groups and communities.
  • Tobacco companies use flavors to entice specific groups to try their harmful products.
  • The pressures of discrimination, poverty, and other social conditions can increase commercial tobacco use and make health problems worse.
  • Population groups need more protections from exposure to secondhand smoke.
  • Some groups encounter barriers to health care and treatment for tobacco use and dependence.

These policies, practices, and conditions affect many Americans—yet they don't work the same way in every community or for every population group. Disparities in commercial tobacco use, secondhand smoke exposure, related health problems, and access to treatment can exist based on where people live, the type and amount of employment and health insurance they have, and other social and demographic factors such as race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability status, level of education, income, and/or behavioral health status.

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Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; Office on Smoking and Health
  1. "Commercial tobacco" means harmful products that are made and sold by tobacco companies. It does not include "traditional tobacco" used by Indigenous groups for religious or ceremonial purposes.