Rapid Response Surveillance in Tobacco Control

Audience: State tobacco control evaluators and epidemiologists who work on surveillance and evaluation Key Points: Increasing the capacity to conduct rapid response surveillance is a key strategy for curbing the tobacco use epidemic at the federal, state, and local levels. However, there are many limitations of current surveillance systems that make it difficult to implement this type of monitoring. For example, while the tobacco industry is rapidly evolving and employing multi-modal capabilities to shape and track the market at both macro and micro levels, the tobacco control surveillance has suffered from lack of funding and difficulties in the ability to update national surveillance systems quickly to address emerging issues. The CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) is working to build rapid response surveillance capacity at the federal level. This effort will enhance tobacco control’s ability to quickly assess the effect and impact of legal issues, current events, programs, and interventions. This presentation will describe the opportunities and potential challenges associated with utilizing rapid response surveillance through a presentation of current activities and planned enhancements; examples of how rapid response surveillance for monitoring the tobacco industry will also be provided. Educational Experience: A presentation of recommendations from an expert panel and current activities related to the feasibility of rapid response surveillance. Benefits: The audience will have the opportunity to learn current initiatives pertaining to the enhancement of tobacco control surveillance efforts.