Cultural connections:Tobacco reduction in diverse communities

The Diverse Racial and Ethnic Groups and Nations (DREGAN) project is a major long-term effort with a clear mission: Work in partnership to reduce tobacco use among Minnesota’s diverse communities.

This unique initiative, described as a “participatory research and action project” has been co-created in partnership with Latino and Southeast Asian community groups, The Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and ClearWay Minnesota, formerly the Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco (MPAAT).

Three realizations fueled the initial development of the project:

1. Tobacco industry advertising explicitly targets racial and ethnic groups [1-3].
2. Traditional strategies to measure and reduce tobacco use are often ineffective in these communities.
3. Effective interventions to reduce the harms of tobacco abuse in diverse racial and ethnic groups must emerge from these complex and growing communities themselves.

Since the DREGAN project was launched in 2001, substantial progress has been made in raising awareness of tobacco use as an important community issue and in understanding these complex communities and their use of tobacco. In addition, DREGAN partners have designed and implemented pilot interventions and are building capacity to develop informed advocates and community support.

Endnotes

1. Muggli, M.E. et al., Targeting of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by the tobacco industry: results from the Minnesota tobacco document depository. (Tobacco Control, Vol. 11, pp. 201-209, 2002).
2. Balbach, E.D. et al., RJ Reynolds’ targeting of African Americans: 1988-2000. (American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 93, No. 5, pp. 822-827, May 2003).
3. Acevedo-Gardia, D., et al., Undoing an epidemiological paradox: the tobacco industry’s targeting of US immigrants. (American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 94, No. 12, pp. 2188-2193, December 2004).