CVS Health giving $110,000 to fight secondhand smoke
Staff Writer |
The CVS Health Foundation announced a new grant to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to help improve counseling by all pediatric health care providers around tobacco and exposure to secondhand smoke.
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The program will provide clinicians with the messages, tools and counseling protocols needed to screen for secondhand smoke exposure and better prepare them to speak with parents and families about the importance of reducing tobacco use.
While the rate of smoking among adults and youth are at all-time lows in the U.S., the ultimate goal of controlling tobacco consumption as the biggest preventable cause of disease and death requires incremental progress on many fronts, including preventing exposure to secondhand smoke, especially among children.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 41 percent of children ages 3 to 11 are exposed to secondhand smoke, which even at brief levels can be harmful to a person's health.
Pursuing a further reduction in tobacco use and nicotine addiction among young people and increasing access to smoke-free environments continues to be a priority for many Americans, as evidenced by the results of a new CVS Health/Morning Consult poll.
According to the national survey of 2,001 U.S. registered voters, 86 percent feel it's important to reduce youth smoking rates.
Thirty-seven percent of all respondents say they are so concerned with exposure to secondhand smoke they exclusively seek out smoke-free locations when they leave their homes.
To help address these alarming trends and reduce the prevalence of secondhand smoke exposure, the AAP will hold two in-person training sessions in 2016 for pediatricians and other child health clinicians, who act as the primary source of medical information for parents.
A $110,000 grant from the CVS Health Foundation to AAP will cover the costs of the meetings, which will feature content produced by the AAP. ■