Introduction
Riverside County has registered an increase in tobacco use over the previous one decade with the department of public health expressing its grave concerns on its effects to the community. The infamous electronic cigarette is the bond of contention due to its increased use even by the underaged who find it convenient as its symptoms are not easily noted. The adults, however, remain the most affected with most efforts getting futile so far. The smoking issue was marked as critical at the time when the National Institute on Drug Abuse raised the alarm on the increased public smoking habits within the US (Currie & Schwandt, 2016). The organization aimed to liberate the public from the effects of secondhand smoke from the tobacco smokers. They recovered that one-thirds of the world population are exposed to secondhand smoke. Notably, countries like India have over 600,000 citizens killed by secondhand smoke (ibid, 2016).
Tobacco use is associated with a broad spectrum of health and social problems that include STIs, teen pregnancies, crimes and child abuse among others. This is expensive to the state and federal governments owing to the increased budgetary demands in health service provision such as Cancer treatment facilities, heart diseases, and HIV/AIDS. In this respect, tobacco-related issues rank among the top most expensive health problems higher than alcohol use (Max et al., 2014).
Figure 1: Health Related Problems by Degree of Seriousness (Max et al., 2014).
The chart above shows various health problems by their degree of health seriousness.
Figure 2: Cost of Substance use in the US (Max et al., 2014).
The chart above shows the approximate amount of billions that the US spends in substance abuse. The US spends USD 484 billion annually.
Strategies that Affect Change at the Community Level
Further, coalitions can be formed to bring together people within the community but from different settings and categories. The coalition will aim at using the advantage of numbers to diversify on the on the methods of tobacco control. Notably, even counselors and advanced nurses will be available providing diversified competencies that could be used to offer top solutions. Also, the coalitions will be instrumental in the dissemination of information concerning the set policies, standards, healthy eating habits, and tobacco control measures.
Key Resources with Impact on the Tobacco Control Efforts
The fact that tobacco use is a leading cause to over six million deaths annually in the world and 640,000 deaths in the US alone means that most of the strategies that have been in place have failed to be effective (Currie & Schwandt, 2016). However, the Riverside Health Assessment exercise should look forward to preventing the trend and continuity of the story that tobacco use is unstoppable. With enough resources to control the use of tobacco, Riverside County can hit the benchmark only the implementation of subtly formulated strategies using the available resources, irrespective of the negatively affecting resources that could slow attaining the objectives.
Ultimately, various resources make the undertaking feasible. On every common resource are the competencies within the Riverside community. Thousands of doctors and nurses can contribute significantly to the tobacco control process. Some of them work in the rehabilitation centers which are numerous and distributed evenly over California. Coupled with the sophisticated health facilities available in the county as well as the state, the rehabilitation centers could offer the best joints for tobacco control, rehabilitation, treatments, and therapies. Besides, a comprehensively compliant police force is essential in the ensuring that the policies against various smoking habits are terminated.
Nevertheless, various inhibiting resources fight back the successful tobacco control program. Notably, smoking in teens above the age of 15 has increased by 7% from 2013 (Vu, 2016). This has been boosted by the effect of tobacco advocates who are highly educated but urging people to use the so described harmless e-cigarette. These individuals include nurses who should be the crusaders for smoking cessation. As such, the campaign could be much more involved in curbing ignorance – which is rather difficult – rather than educating the public. Besides, there are numerous tobacco companies in California, and that could be an assurance for resistance against the set objectives.
Viable Changes and Enhancements in the Community
Lately, the tobacco control practices have had mixed deliverables that make the efforts seemingly futile to partake some other time. As such, some changes can be done in the community to enhance the realization of the set objectives. The best examples of such changes include the testing of blood pressure in the hospitals that can help recover if any individual recovered to be positive is a smoker and possibly offer further guidelines thus preventing further illnesses. In addition, brochures can be provided in the hospitals that can be used in the dissemination of information concerning the health and social effects of tobacco consumption. Also, parents in Riverside County can be trained on supportive parental strategies that can be used to keep their children in check reducing the teenager’s susceptibility to tobacco. The formation of coalitions in the community can perform an anti-tobacco campaign increasing the chances of having a successful tobacco use control exercise.
The Tobacco Use Control Plan
First, the community stores need to be synergized into the policies adopted by the tobacco control program. This will include the promotion and support of the various tobacco stores to adopt healthy shopping strategies through the Tobacco Retail Licensing (TRL). Brilliantly, this will reduce smoking among the underage teens as the license will only be available to retailers trusted not to sell to underage people. Notably, not all the tobacco stores will be licensed. In this regards, there will be fewer stores from which the smokers can get the product. Resultantly, the overall smoking and consequently exposure to tobacco or secondhand smoke will be reduced.
Secondly, the county is needed to adopt and facilitate policies that limit smoking in areas that expose people to secondhand smoke. This can include multi-unit housing areas, libraries, parks, and public streets. The policies will act as the governing laws that will define the penalty that a smoker in an area prohibiting from smoking will receive. The prohibition of areas that expose the public to secondhand smoke will be crucial reducing the number of passive smokers and consequently the tobacco-related health problems.
According to Vu (2016), most individuals begin the smoking habits in campuses and colleges. In this respect, the prohibition of smoking in such areas through education and campaigns will contribute significantly to shaping the future of Riverside County. This will continue to the workplaces with a more disciplined staff right from the campuses. When this continues, the problem of educated influential members of the community of the staff as smokers or advocating for smoking will be reduced.
Conclusion
All in all, the tobacco control exercises have proven feasible in a number of regions. As such, the objectives of a smoke-free community are not unachievable in Riverside County. The strategies described are effective in ensuring that the cases of secondhand smoke, teenage smoking and irresponsible smoking will end. In light of this, the cost that the county incurs in treating smoking-related health issues will decrease significantly. However, the county, state, and federal governments will all have to rise to the occasion and solve the challenge of insufficient funds to accomplish the operation. The challenge of resistant companies will, however, take the effort of the community through campaigns to be neutralized.
Unlike the Tobacco Retailer Licensing, strategies such as the multi-unit housing being smoke-free are voluntary and will take the effort of the community in its campaigns to besiege residents to adopt smoke-free homes. As described in the Riverside’s 2015 annual report, the strategy was successful in Moreno Valley and Corona where residents agreed to implement the policy of the smoke-free home. The strategy was complex but its success implies that all strategies are viable if skillfully implemented.
References
Currie, J., & Schwandt, H. (2016). Mortality inequality: the good news from a county-level approach. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(2), 29-52.
Max, W., Sung, H. Y., Shi, Y., & Stark, B. (2014). The cost of smoking in California, 2009. Institute for Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco.
Vu, T. (2016). Preliminary evaluations of Mini Medical School at the University of California, Riverside.
Appendices
Appendix A
What score would you give causes of health issues in Riverside County?
55% cancer
59% substance abuse
48% obesity
What do you think should be given more attention to curb further health issues?
71% obesity
67% smoking
60% alcohol and substance abuse
53% nutrition
49% mental illness
How good is your health?
23% very good
49% good
13 fair or below
