CVS Health Commits $10M to Combat Youth Smoking

CVS Health revealed that it will pledge $10 million in 2018 to continue to support youth smoking prevention and education programs and strategies throughout the United States as part of its Be The First campaign. 

The new commitments will be funded through the company's CVS Health Foundation, and are part of a five-year $50 million initiative to create "the nation's first tobacco-free generation."

"After just two years, we're encouraged by our contributions to a continuing decline in youth smoking rates; however, far too many young people are still using a variety of harmful tobacco and nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes and vapes, that facilitate initiation of tobacco use," said Troyen Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Health, in a statement. "By reducing the number of people that are exposed to tobacco, we can reduce the prevalence of tobacco-related diseases, including lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, and make a significant impact on the health of our next generation."

Since its introduction in 2016, Be The First has funded programs with numerous tobacco control advocates, including the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and CATCH Global Foundation and Truth Initiative. CVS Health reports that its funding efforts have helped reach more than 4 million young people with anti-smoking education and healthy behavior programming, as well as helping 146 colleges and universities advocate for adopting and implementing tobacco-free campus policies.

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Among the new investments being delivered in 2018 are a $1.4 million grant to the Play2Prevent Lab at the Yale Center for Health & Learning Games and a $500,000 grant to the Stanford University School of Medicine over three years to help enhance and scale current pilot programs to reach more students across the country.  These programs include Yale's SmokeScreen interactive narrative-based video game in which players "travel" through life facing a range of challenges and decisions regarding smoking and tobacco use, as well as Stanford's Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, which acts as a free online resource for those working with youth.

CVS Health expects its investments in the Stanford Toolkit and Yale's SmokeScreen game app will reach more than 200,000 adolescents each year, through schools and other youth-serving organizations. The company is also working to help expand access to the program later in 2018 through numerous mobile platforms, including the Google and Apple app stores.

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Additionally, the CVS Health Foundation will build on the success of partnerships with Truth Initiative and the American Cancer Society to increase the number of tobacco-free college campuses later in 2018. Grants will be available to help more than 70 additional colleges and universities across the country advocate for, adopt and implement 100% smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies, as part of a shared goal to expand the number of campuses across the country that prohibit smoking and tobacco use.