Recovering & rebuilding as one: The state of tobacco control in Louisiana

Louisiana is one of eleven states with more than one major tobacco control program for the state. The public Louisiana Tobacco Control Program (LTCP) was created within the Department of Health and Hospitals in 1993 and is funded by CDC Office on Smoking and Health. The not-for profit program, The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living (TFL), began in 2003 with funding from the state excise tax on tobacco and is located within the Louisiana Public Health Institute. After the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita, both programs faced programmatic challenges and corresponding changes. More than ever, the importance of highly synergistic, effective and efficient state tobacco control programs is critical in long-term sustainability.

In this integration process, TFL and LTCP partnered with the Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium and CDC Office on Smoking and Health in the development of a renewed comprehensive tobacco control plan. These collaborating agencies established a multi-phased integration process, including: ensuring strong understanding of ongoing programs; constructing highly integrated strategic, evaluation and work plans, all grounded in CDC's most recent Best Practices framework; gathering input from community stakeholders regarding program priorities; and developing renewed infrastructure and programming supportive of and supported by the TFL/TCP integration.

Louisiana presents our integration experiences as a case study for other states in their own integration processes. Our presentation includes: a) overview of the integration context; b) integration framework and brief descriptions of processes within; and c) highlights of promising practices and challenges encountered in the development of a joint tobacco control program.