Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #120470

Yang Gonghuan, MD, MPH, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Department of Public Health Surveillance & Information Science, 5# Line 3, Dongdan Road, Beijing 100005, China, 000-000-0000, fstillma@jhsph.edu, Frances A. Stillman, EdD, Tobacco Control Research Program, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21209, Erica Avila Tang, MHS, PhD, Institute for Global Tobacco Control, 615 N. Wolfe St., Room W6025, Baltimore, MD 21205, Jonathan Samet, MD, MS, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe St, Suite W6041, Baltimore, MD 21205, and Ma Jiemin, MD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Institute for Global Tobacco Control, 615 N. Wolfe St., Room W6025, Baltimore, MD 21205.

Involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) affects a large percentage of the population worldwide. SHS poses a serious health risk to both children and adult passive smokers. In China, active smoking is a major public health problem. There is, however, insufficient information regarding the range of exposure, the locations where SHS exposure is taking place and the factors related to it. A multi-year project is underway in China with the overall goal of developing a model intervention to reduce smoking through action at the local level. To achieve the overall goal this project, we conducted 27 focus groups and 10 in-depth interviews with public officials and community members concerning smoking in rural areas; conducted a survey of 15,096 individuals to assess smoking behavior and exposure to SHS and used passive nicotine monitors to measure nicotine content in the air of 450 public places, such as hospitals, schools, and restaurants as well as in homes. In this presentation we report findings from both the qualitative and quantitative research that have been conducted in 3 project counties, the capital cities of the 3 provinces, and Beijing. The results from this research are being used in the development of the project's intervention phase. Planning for the interventions will focus on developing no-smoking policies for hospitals, schools and government buildings in rural communities as well as possible programs through pre-natal care clinics, maternity wards, and pediatric care facilities to encourage parents to make their homes smoke-free.

Learning Objectives:

• Not submitted

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.