Experts in Tobacco Control Discuss Endgame Strategies to Reduce Smoking Prevalence Equitably

Dr. Amanda Kong, assistant professor at the TSET Health Promotion Research Center, and Dr. Lisa Henriksen, senior research scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford, California, recently co-authored an article published in the special 30th anniversary edition of Tobacco Control. This special issue brings together thought leaders to reflect on 30 years of progress in tobacco control and areas for future directions.

Kong and Henriksen’s article, “Retail endgame strategies: Reduce tobacco availability and visibility and promote health equity,” discusses solution-oriented policies to limit the quantity, location and type of stores that can sell tobacco, thereby reducing the visibility of tobacco products and related marketing.

"Across the world, countries are setting tobacco endgame goals to dramatically decrease cigarette smoking and tobacco use prevalence,” noted Kong, lead author. “Policies focused on decreasing both the supply and visibility of tobacco products have the potential to help countries not only reach endgame targets, but to do so equitably so that no populations are left behind.”

Kong and Henriksen compared the number of pharmacies, alcohol retailers and tobacco retailers per 10,000 past-month consumers of each product in the USA. They found that the retail supply was 10, and two times greater for tobacco than for prescription drugs and alcohol, respectively, suggesting there are many more tobacco retailers than necessary to meet consumer demand. The authors note that tobacco retailers are also disproportionately concentrated in neighborhoods with greater socioeconomic deprivation and higher proportions of minoritized racial and ethnic groups.

“We challenge policymakers, practitioners and researchers to prioritize equity-oriented goals and work collaboratively to identify, implement and evaluate evidence-based solutions to regulate the tobacco retail environment," Henriksen said.

The article titled Retail endgame strategies: Reduce tobacco availability and visibility and promote health equity” can be read in its entirety here.

Kong is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (P30CA225520) and the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET R21-02). Henriksen is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (P01CA225597).