The mission of The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi is to provide educational information and awareness about the impact of tobacco use in Mississippi.
The Partnership’s programs reach youth in schools and communities. From kindergarten through the twelfth grade, students learn about the health dangers of tobacco use, enhance their communication skills and build self-esteem that will help them avoid other risky behaviors. The Partnership provides free classroom materials to teachers and other educators, as well as community-based activity guides that can be used in faith-based settings and after-school programs.
Steering children away from tobacco clearly makes sense. Most smokers become addicted while they’re young. In fact, 90 percent of adult smokers started before the age of 18. So by preventing children from using tobacco, The Partnership helps create a society of healthier, more productive people. Even for nonsmokers, reduced smoking rates mean a better quality of life.
Fighting Big Tobacco is not easy, and it cannot be done with short-term planning. The tobacco industry is as powerful an opponent as one will find. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission reports that the major cigarette companies spend more than $15.4 billion annually on marketing alone.
To call The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi an underdog would be an understatement, but with the support of every Mississippian, we can keep up the fight. It’s the right thing to do — and that’s a fact that even a $132 billion industry can’t take away.
