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 New Orleans, LA – Louisiana Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan 2022-2027 just released by LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health marks several firsts. For the first time, the plan is only online, which permits continual updating and allows access from anywhere. The strategies are now all in one place, and the goals and objectives are easily found, comprising Chapter 1. The plan, based on the latest available data and evidence-based practices, for the first time also contains guidance to put the plan into action in the “What You Can Do Section.” The plan is available here.

            The plan covers cancers for which expert recommendations for prevention are available–breast, cervical and other HPV-related cancers, colorectal, lung and tobacco-related cancers, and skin (melanoma) – to make the greatest impact.

            Goals include decreasing the overall cancer incidence and mortality rates, as well as for certain specific cancer types; decreasing the incidence and mortality rates for all cancers among African-Americans, low-income Louisianians, and those living in rural areas. Prevention goals include decreasing the smoking rate among adults, increasing the level of aerobic physical activity and vegetable consumption, as well as HPV vaccination rates. Early detection goals include increasing cervical cancer screenings and the percentage of women who have mammograms, as well as colorectal, lung and prostate cancer screening. Goals also include increasing the number of people surviving cancer and decreasing the number of cancer survivors who report fair-to-poor health.

            Strategies are color-coded for goal category – prevention, early detection, treatment/survivorship, and cross-cutting. The listing also ties each strategy to the cancers targeted, groups to which it is directed to implement, and focus populations.

            “Louisiana has the 6th worst rate of new cancers and the 7th highest cancer death rate,” notes Donna Williams, DrPH, Professor & Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health.

            The Louisiana Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, a service program at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developed this plan collaborating with the Louisiana Healthy Communities Coalition and numerous stakeholders.

            “This plan both reflects current cancer control efforts in our state and serves as a guide for future work,” adds Dr. Williams, who also directs the Louisiana Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (LCCCP). “LCCCP will continue to work with the cancer control community over the next five years to evaluate and update the plan.”

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LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana’s health care professionals. The state’s flagship health sciences university, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine with branch campuses in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state’s only School of Dentistry, Louisiana’s only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas in a worldwide arena, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment, or cure disease. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO, or http://www.facebook.com/LSUHSC.