African American People and Commercial Tobacco: Health Disparities and Ways to Advance Health Equity

At a glance

  • Everyone deserves a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This is called health equity.
  • Achieving health equity means addressing system-wide problems, unfair practices, and unjust conditions that have a negative impact on the health of specific groups.
African American couple

Overview

In order to achieve health equity, we work to eliminate health disparities. Health disparities are differences in health outcomes that are closely linked with social, economic, and environmental factors that affect Black/African American people.A To improve health equity, we must consider the role of commercial tobacco.B

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African American Communities Experience a Health Burden from Commercial Tobacco

Commercial tobacco gets in the way of achieving health equity.
A group of five African American women sitting outside.

Unfair and Unjust Practices and Conditions Harm African American People and Drive Health Disparities

Unfair and unjust practices related to commercial tobacco harm people and drive health disparities.
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African American People Need More Protection From Secondhand Smoke Exposure

Not everyone is equally protected by smokefree air policies which protect us from secondhand smoke.
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African American People Encounter Barriers to Quitting Successfully

There are barriers to finding and using proven treatments that help people quit smoking.
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Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; Office on Smoking and Health
  1. The terms Black/African American refer to non-Hispanic people of African descent living in the U.S. When the single terms "Black," "non-Hispanic, Black," are used, this corresponds with how terms are used in corresponding published research studies.
  2. "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.