Office on Smoking and Health (OSH)

OSH at a glance

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Based on 2021 data, about 28.3 million U.S. adults smoke cigarettes. Over 16 million people live with at least one disease caused by smoking, and 58 million nonsmoking Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is at the forefront of the nation’s efforts to reduce deaths and prevent chronic diseases that result from tobacco use. The agency and its partners promote tobacco control interventions, including actions to:

• Prevent youth from starting to use tobacco.
• Promote smoke-free environments.
• Enhance programs to help tobacco users quit.
• Support steps to eliminate tobacco-related health disparities in different population groups.

Additional information

Mission

OSH leads strategic public health efforts to end commercial tobacco use and exposure, providing all people in all communities an equitable opportunity to live free from disease, disability, death, and social and economic impacts caused by or related to tobacco products.

Vision

A world free from commercial tobacco-related disease, disability, and death.

Goals

• Prevent initiation of tobacco use among youth and young adults.
• Promote quitting among adults and youth.
• Eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Advance health equity by identifying and eliminating commercial tobacco product-related inequities and disparities.

Partnerships and actions

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

• Expand the science base of effective tobacco control.
• Build sustainable capacity and infrastructure for comprehensive tobacco control programs.
• Communicate timely, relevant information to constituents, policy makers, and the public.
• Coordinate policy, partnerships, and other strategic initiatives to support tobacco control priorities.
• Foster global tobacco control through surveillance, capacity building, and information exchange.

Key activities

CDC works with decision makers, partners, health officials, and the public to end the tobacco epidemic by:

• Supporting comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 8 U.S. territories or jurisdictions, and 26 tribes/tribal organizations.
• Supporting tobacco cessation and quitline services in 50 states, 2 territories, and Washington, D.C., and maintaining the national network of tobacco cessation quitlines.
• Educating the public about the harms of tobacco use, including through paid media campaigns like Tips From Former Smokers.
• Conducting and coordinating surveillance, laboratory, and evaluation activities related to tobacco use and its effect on health.
• Reducing tobacco-related health disparities through 8 national networks working to reduce tobacco use among specific populations.
• Supporting health systems to improve cessation insurance coverage, remove barriers to evidence-based cessation treatments, and promote use of covered treatments.
• Coordinating the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health.
• Strengthening global tobacco surveillance systems to monitor the global tobacco epidemic.*

* CDC’s global tobacco work is supported by the CDC Foundation through donations from the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.