Table 1.

Recommendations to advance equity in tobacco control for tobacco control programs, researchers and funding agencies and example action steps

Category	Recommendations	Who is responsible?
		Programs	Researchers	Funding Agencies
Surveillance	Name and monitor the social systems that produce racial and socioeconomic inequities in smoking in tobacco use surveillance reports	X	X
	Disaggregate data to take into account intersecting forms of identity	X	X
	Ensure surveillance systems adequately sample populations disproportionately affected by smoking and tobacco-related disease	X
Example Action Steps	• CDC’s annual publication on prevalence of tobacco use among adults in the United States names the social systems that produce demographic inequities in smoking.   • The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System adds questions about use of little cigars and cigarillos to their annual survey.
Interventions	Prioritize the implementation of policy interventions that will have a pro-equity impact on smoking and related disease	X
	Evaluate the equity impacts of tobacco control interventions	X	X
	Ensure the participation of populations systematically excluded from tobacco control program or policy development and implementation	X	X
Example Action Steps	• Tobacco control programs evaluate whether their interventions reduced racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in tobacco use in their localities in the past five years.   • Tobacco control programs conduct an audit of the demographic composition of their workforce.
Funding	Designate funding to tobacco control activities focused on eliminating racial and socioeconomic inequities in smoking	X		X
	Ensure the representation and influence of populations systematically excluded from decisions about resource allocation for tobacco control efforts	X		X
Example Action Steps	• CDC adds recommendations for funding levels allocated to reducing demographic disparities in smoking to their existing funding recommendations for state tobacco control programs.   • Tobacco control programs conduct an audit to summarize the demographic composition of their research contract recipients over the past five years.
Accountability	Local, state, and federal tobacco control programs should establish specific equity-focused goals	X
	Establish accountability mechanisms to encourage tobacco control programs to reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in smoking			X
Example Action Steps	• Tobacco control programs establish specific five-year goals related to reducing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in smoking.   • CDC pilot tests an accountability program that adjusts funding to state tobacco control programs that fail to meet their equity goals.
Root Causes	Target root causes of inequities in smoking in tobacco control interventions	X	X
	Develop partnerships with non-traditional stakeholders in tobacco control that focus on addressing the root causes of smoking inequities	X	X	X
Example Action Steps	• Tobacco control programs identify structural interventions that have been effective in addressing root causes of demographic inequities in other public health areas.   • Tobacco control programs identify community-based organizations that focus on fighting structural racism to partner with in future work.

Notes. Programs refers to tobacco control programs at local, state, and/or federal levels (e.g., United States Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products) or advocacy organizations such as Truth Initiative. Funding agencies responsible may include public and private public health agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.