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Office on Smoking and Health

Brief Overview

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through its Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), is the lead federal agency for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control. OSH is a division within the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, which is located within CDC’s Coordinating Center for Health Promotion.

Originally established in 1964 as the National Clearinghouse on Tobacco, OSH is dedicated to reducing the death and disease caused by tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Our Vision

A world free from tobacco-related death and disease

Our Mission

To develop, conduct, and support strategic efforts to protect the public’s health from the harmful effects of tobacco use

Our Goals

Partnerships and Actions

To accomplish our goals, we work in partnership with local, state, national, and international leaders to—

National Tobacco Control Program

To achieve our mission, we fund health departments in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and seven U.S. territories for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control. Funded programs focus on tobacco use prevention, cessation, smoke-free environments, and tobacco-related disparities. To achieve impact, we work collaboratively with state and national partners and networks in providing strategic leadership, a solid science base, and technical assistance to advance evidence-based interventions at the state and local levels.

Global Efforts

To address the worldwide epidemic of disease and death caused by tobacco, we work with international partners to expand the global science base through surveillance and research; build capacity for data collection, analysis and reporting; and assist with linking surveillance data to tobacco control efforts.

 

Page last updated 02/28/2007