In New York City, smoking kills more than 7,400 people a year.
Enhancing Anti-Smoking Messaging
New York City has experienced a dramatic decrease in smoking rates thanks to the city’s comprehensive tobacco control program, which includes five key elements:
- Increasing the cigarette tax - because of city and state taxes, cigarettes in NYC cost on average $11 – the most expensive pack in the US
- Passage of the Smoke Free Air Act in 2002 that made it illegal to smoke in bars, restaurants, and other establishments
- Providing resources and tools to help people quit smoking
- Employing forceful media campaigns to educate the public on the dangers of smoking
- Monitoring the effectiveness of programs and adapting programs to new trends and approaches
To enhance the city’s efforts, a private donor partnered with the Fund for Public Health in New York (FPHNY) to supplement the NYC Health Department's “Cigarettes are Eating You Alive” campaign using a new medium: matchbooks. A donor’s gift supported the printing of over 400,000 matchbooks with images of ravaged lungs, rotting gums and large, painful tumors – all the result of tobacco. The graphic matchbooks were distributed to 132 cigarette retailers in the South Bronx, central and east Harlem and northern and central Brooklyn, heightening anti-smoking messaging in neighborhoods with particularly high smoking rates. Learn more about the DOHMH's tobacco control work.
To learn more about how you can make a donation to support vital NYC Health Department projects, contact Sara Gardner, Executive Director, Fund for Public Health in New York.
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