Strong Tobacco Control Begins with Good Public Health Governance

Audience:

This session is directed at board of health (BOHs) members, health department staff (including health officers and tobacco control divisions), and other tobacco use prevention and control advocates with a local BOH in their community or jurisdiction.

Key Points:

Good public health begins with good governance. Boards of health (BOHs) are often the governing entity for health agencies and are responsible for overseeing and ensuring programs, services, and budgets are implemented by the health agency to reflect the community’s needs. An additional, vital responsibility of the BOH is to draft, implement, enforce, and advocate for tobacco control policies. Through the tobacco prevention and control technical assistance, education, and training programs NALBOH has conducted with BOHs nationwide, the presenter will highlight lessons learned, case studies for various tobacco control policies drafted/enacted by BOHs, and methods to engage BOHs to achieve powerful local tobacco control policies.

Educational Experience:

Attendees will learn key points through case studies and lessons learned from other BOHs. The session will also include working through a logic model to describe a process for engaging and fostering partnerships with BOHs to implement tobacco control policies.

Benefits:

BOHs have often been an untapped resource in the fight for tobacco control policies. However, because of the unique position BOHs have in policy development, they are one of the most vital components to tobacco control policies. Through this presentation, attendees should become comfortable with taking steps to effectively engaging their BOH members in the local tobacco control fight.