Many public health organizations significantly lack data on tobacco and betel nut usage among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities. In 2022, Living Islands partnered with the Oregon Health Authority to help collect this data. Living Islands subsequently launched a Tobacco and Betel Nut Cultural Use Survey that has been disseminated among Pacific Islanders living in Oregon and Washington. The survey aims to help close this data gap by quantifying tobacco betel nut use amongst Pacific Islanders living in Oregon and Washington.
Just over 700 Pacific Islanders have since participated in the survey. Along with the high use of tobacco products among participants, over 12 percent said they chew betel nuts. More than half of those participants chew betel nuts every day, and nearly all users combine betel nuts with tobacco. More than 75 percent of those users say they want to quit.
Since Living Islands launched the survey, they have engaged with Oregon State legislators and health institutions. They continue to present tobacco and betel nut survey findings to cancer research teams at the Oregon Health and Science University Knight Cancer Institute. Our research has helped the institute understand betel nut use in the United States and include it in its cancer research.
Additionally, Living Islands has presented the survey data to several Oregon State legislators in the House of Representatives and State Senate. They have collaborated with these legislators to develop new policy that would mandate betel nut education for dentists and family health practitioners across Oregon. Read more about HB3511.
Living Islands Non-Profit will continue to survey betel nut use amongst Pacific Islanders through 2025 and beyond. We encourage all Pacific Islanders living in Oregon and Washington to take the survey.
BETEL NUT USE AMONG SURVEY PARTICIPANTS
NUMBER OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS WHO WANT TO QUIT BETEL NUT
FUTURE RESEARCH AND PROJECT GOALS
Living Islands will continue to disseminate the survey to Pacific Islanders living in Oregon and Washington for the foreseeable future. New data will continue to be shared with lawmakers and health institutions.
The Betel Nut Project aims to be a continuously updated resource for information about betel nut usage and its associated health impacts, with new blog posts, fliers and videos posted to the Betel Nut Project regularly. Producing such content requires extensive time to research betel nut use and develop scripts and copy. Further funding from community and government partners is needed to continue these efforts.
