UCLA researchers will receive a $3 million grant to counteract the effects of secondhand smoke among low-income black and Latino families in Los Angeles, officials announced last week.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will give the grant to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research over the next three years. The center will work with an organization called Smokefree Air for Everyone, or SAFE, to implement the grant in multiunit housing communities in Los Angeles, said Peggy Toy, director of the Health DATA program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and project director of SAFE at UCLA.
The grant will also help educate low-income black and Latino families about how to implement smoke-free policies.
There is a high rate of chronic disease among Latino and black communities because individuals lack access to information and resources to reduce risk, Toy said.
Smoking in common areas in multiunit housing can have adverse effects on other residents because smoke can drift throughout the building, Toy said.
The center aims to educate property owners and tenants in these communities about how to implement smoke-free policies and help make the home environment smoke-free, Toy said.
Researchers will also try to help people who want to quit smoking, Toy added.
Compiled by Chandini Soni, Bruin senior staff.