NAATPN Reaches Out to HBCUs

NAATPN has launched a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) initiative, collaborating with schools across the country to promote comprehensive campus-based initiatives that engage students, faculty, staff, and community members in efforts to make the campuses tobacco-free.

The immediate goals are to prevent tobacco-related deaths and to promote civic and individual wellness on HBCU college campuses. Looking to the future, long-term objective is to affect the behavior of an entire generation.

Knowing that most African Americans begin smoking in late adolescence or early adulthood, NAATPN wants to educate students and faculty about the dangers of tobacco use and how to decrease its influence on campus. Studies show that adult smoking rates are highest among college-aged people (ages 18-24). While tobacco use among other adult age groups has remained virtually unchanged since 1990, college students are smoking at higher rates.
Recent studies show that there is a need for effective smoking cessation programs on campus. Of schools with cessation programs, only 31% reported having individualized counseling. Only 25% offer comprehensive programs with counseling, screening, and assessment by a physician or health professional. Only 19% offer cessation products approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Cessation programs must be tailored to students' needs and marketed more effectively.

As a result, NAATPN has made Black colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education a priority. College students are the future policy-makers and leaders of government and industry. If college graduates have experienced the benefits of clean indoor life and healthy environments during their college careers, they will be more likely to work to maximize similar healthy living environments for our workplaces and communities.

Phase one of the initiative launched January 15 of this year. During phase one, NAATPN opened dialogue by offering free issues of Insight, NAATPN’s quarterly newsletter, to be distributed on campus. The response was overwhelming with schools like Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA), Lemoyne-Owen College (Memphis, TN), Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC), and Prairie View A&M of Texas eager to participate. NAATPN will team up with student organizations, coalitions, and health professionals to share resources and ideas for tobacco use reduction in hopes that students involved will be encouraged to develop anti-smoking projects for the campus community.

To learn more about NAATPN’s HBCU initiative, call us at 1-888-7NAATPN or contact Timolynn Sams, NAATPN Midwest Region Director, at tsams@naatpn.org.