While the economic environment in Arizona has gradually improved, vulnerable individuals and families rely on the Department for life-saving protective services and essential economic support. The Department has made important improvements in how we deliver benefits, goods and services to vulnerable individuals and families. The Plan outlines several of these on-going improvement efforts including cost-saving process improvements, expanded community collaborations, enhanced transparency and increased accountability.

The Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Tobacco Education and Prevention began its strategic planning process in August of 2007 and aimed to create a model that focused on effective tobacco control which would engage stakeholders at the local, state and national levels. As such it was critical to ensure that the process was both transparent and participatory, and included input and involvement from the full diversity of populations and regions across Arizona.

The Arizona Department of Health Services initiated the development of this plan with the intent to set priorities by formulating objectives and suggesting strategies to address chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a serious public health issue in Arizona. This plan begins with a detailed description of chronic obstructive lung disease followed by a discussion of proposed objectives and strategies. The overriding goals of this plan are those stated in the Healthy People 2010: Objectives for Improving Health.

Adult tobacco use represents an important and ongoing morbidity, mortality and health care cost problem. The Arizona Department of Health Services Tobacco Education and Prevention Program has been working since 1996 to reduce tobacco use in Arizona. This report presents data from the 2005 Adult Tobacco Surveys in Spanish on adult tobacco use prevalence rates, cessation behaviors, and home smoking bans.