National

American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation updates to smokefree lists, maps, and data
The ANR Foundation announced updates to its listings of state and local smoke-free ordinances. ANR has been tracking and analyzing smoke-free policy since the 1980s, and currently updates its web listings and policy analyses on a quarterly basis. The ANR website provides information about policies in specific types of venues, maps of smoke-free policy coverage, and listings of municipalities with smoke-free laws that cover outdoor areas. Click here to access the updated resources on the ANR website.

Battle against smoking drags on, years after tobacco settlement
The Associated Press has created an interactive online presentation that provides a brief review of state and federal records on state expenditures of tobacco settlement funds. The presentation shows that a large amount of the funds were not spent on public health or tobacco control. The presentation asserts that nationally, only 30% of the funds were spent on healthcare and less than 4% went to tobacco control efforts. The information in this resource was based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Government Accountability Office. Click here to access this interactive presentation by the Associated Press.

Shortchanging America’s health: A state-by-state look at how federal public health dollars are spent and key state health facts
A new report identifies disparities in federal funding of state public health initiatives, and describes the relationship between funding and state-level health inequalities. During fiscal year 2008, per-capita federal funding of state health programs ranged from $12.74 to $52.78. While federal public health funding given to states averaged $17.60 per person, states’ public health costs were far greater at an average of $33.71 per person. Currently, it is difficult to compare the outcomes of the funding across states because of differences in financial reporting, but the report notes that more transparency and accountability may help demonstrate the positive impacts of public health spending. This report was compiled by Trust for America’s Health with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Click here for more information and to download the report.

Healthy Maine Partnerships: Policy and environmental changes (ME)
A case study describes the outcomes of the Healthy Maine Partnerships program in terms of the environmental and policy changes that resulted from the program’s chronic disease prevention model. The state established health promotion and chronic disease prevention partnerships using tobacco settlement money. Community organizations received grants from the state to implement policy or environmental interventions to address tobacco use, physical activity, and nutrition. During fiscal years 2003-2005, over 4,600 cumulative policy or environmental changes were reported--an indication of the effectiveness of the partnerships created through the program. This report was published in Preventing Chronic Disease, a peer-reviewed journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Click here to read the full report.

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International

Cigarette affordability trends: An update and some methodological comments
In a recent study, researchers measured trends in the cost and affordability of cigarettes among 32 high-income and 45 low-and middle-income countries for the years 1990-2006. Affordability was measured using the relative income price (RIP), which is based on the nation’s per-capita GDP, and cost was measured in “minutes of labor,” needed to earn enough money to buy the cheapest pack of cigarettes available, which is based on median income. Cigarettes were significantly more affordable in high-income countries than in low- and middle-income countries. Since 1990, cigarettes have become less affordable in high-income countries, while becoming more affordable in low- and middle-income countries. The report concludes that it is important to consider measures of affordability in addition to cost measures when drawing international comparisons of cigarette prices. Click here to read the article, which was published in Tobacco Control.

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