MPOWER…

Good Morning…

CAN I SAY WOW!

There has been so much great information shared at this conference. One of the sessions that I went to talked about MPOWER. This is another common term that is tossed around … like MAPPS this is another acronym that has been identified as a key strategy for our work… Older than MAPPS but still a commonly used acronym for our work…

MPOWER

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies

Protect people from tobacco smoke

Offer help to quit tobacco use

Warn about the dangers of tobacco use

Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and Sponsorship

Raise taxes on tobacco

The presentation addressed Local Responsibility and noted local governments have a statutory responsibility to address tobacco use as a dominant threat to the health of their communities, especially among vulnerable populations such as:

• Those experiencing tobacco-related disparities
• Youth
• Persons with lower levels of education
• People with substance abuse issues

With that being said I wanted to share some points that focused on Aligning MPOWER policies and local public health accreditation domains

1. Monitor health status and understand health issues facing the community.

●● Local surveillance and analysis of tobacco use prevalence.

2. Protect people from health problems and health hazards.

●● Educate and inform decision-makers about the research on comprehensive clean indoor air legislation and enforce it when implemented.

3. Give people information they need to make healthy choices.

●● Use paid and earned media to educate and inform regarding the dangers of secondhand smoke, especially for children, lactating mothers, and people with compromised cardiac or respiratory health.

4. Engage the community to identify and solve health problems.

●● Develop or support community partnerships to address tobacco use.

5. Develop public health policies and plans.

●● Work with community partners to develop a county plan to address tobacco use including the adoption of evidence-based policies such as expanding smoking restrictions.

6. Enforce public health laws and regulations.

●● Conduct enforcement procedures with tobacco retailers to reduce unlawful tobacco sales to minors.

7. Help people receive health services.

●● Provide training and coordination among all healthcare providers in the county to promote brief cessation interventions and referrals.

8. Maintain a competent public health workforce.

●● Support the attendance of LHD staff at state and national tobacco control conferences and trainings.

9. Evaluate and improve programs and interventions.

●● Ensure that each tobacco control component is being evaluated and is helping the overall program achieve its goals and objectives.

10. Contribute to and apply the evidence base of public health.

●● Publish the results of local tobacco-related surveillance and program evaluation in peer-reviewed journals.

These are some of the main points I wanted to share with you all to digest at the moment hope I did not throw too much at you…

Gustavo

 

HELLO FROM ATLANTA…

Hello From Atlanta….

As you may know Scout and I are currently at the CDC’s communities putting prevention to work: state and territory initiative conference.

Dr. Ursula Bauer’s opening remarks yesterday noted the importance of state and territories in chronic disease preventions has a valuable role to the communities they serve more than ever. Dr Bauer is the Director if the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She is charged with setting the direction for the Center’s “Winnable Battles” of tobacco use prevention, improved nutrition and physical activity, and prevention of teen and unintended pregnancy, as well as key priorities related to the leading causes of death.

Dr. Bauer talked about MAPPS strategies, this is the hot new buzz word that you might have heard on the streets and many of you “including myself” still do not fully understand all of the functions of the MAPPS strategies…

SO…. I have included some information for you all so we can continue to take some lessons on MAAPS and hopefully understand the breath and depth of MAPPS Strategies!

The following information is strait from CDC’s site on MAPPS Interventions…  I have also included a link to the site to see the entire MAAPS Interventions for Communities Putting Prevention to work. This great guide shows MAPPS Interventions for Tobacco, Nutrition, and Physical Activity!

MAPPS Interventions for Communities Putting Prevention to Work

Five evidence-based MAPPS strategies, when combined, can have a profound influence on improving health behaviors by changing community environments: Media, Access, Point of decision information, Price, and Social support/services. The evidence-based interventions below are drawn from the peer- reviewed literature as well as expert syntheses from the community guide and other peer-reviewed sources, cited below. Communities and states have found these interventions to be successful in practice. Awardees are expected to use this list of evidence-based strategies to design a comprehensive and robust set of strategies to produce the desired outcomes for the initiative.

http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/recovery/PDF/MAPPS_Intervention_Table.pdf