TFL Launches African American Male Tobacco Cessation Campaign in Greater Baton Rouge
Statistics have shown that Louisiana’s African American males have higher than average smoking rates, and lower than average use of Quitline services. To combat this trend, the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living (TFL) recently launched the African American Male Cessation Campaign in the Greater Baton Rouge area.
This campaign was developed to raise awareness on the dangers of tobacco use while also encouraging the use of Louisiana’s free Quitline services. In addition to social and paid media tactics, TFL’s grassroots partner, the Communities of Color Network (CoC) via the Southern University Agricultural Land-Grant Campus, will work across the Baton Rouge area to host a series of targeted events, educational sessions with community stakeholders and providers, as well as a Community Conversation event in the coming months.
In Louisiana, African American males have the highest smoking prevalence of any racial/gender group, at 28.2 percent, and smoke at a rate 1.2 times higher than white males.
Black Male Female | White Male Female | |||
Louisiana Population (Census, 2015) | 15.2% | 16.9% | 31.1% | 31.7% |
Smoking Prevalence (BRFSS, 2015) | 28.2% | 15.4% | 23.3% | 21.3% |
Quitline Callers (Louisiana Quitline, 2016) | 14.2% | 24.5% | 20.2% | 36.1% |
According to the Louisiana Tumor Registry, African American males maintain the highest rates of lung cancer diagnosis and death in the state. Additionally, Louisiana’s African American males have a lung cancer diagnosis rate 27 percent higher than the national average and a death rate 32 percent higher than the national average among this demographic.
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