Promoting Cervical Cancer Prevention with CDC's Public Health Grand Rounds

January represents the start of a new year and for many, is a time to set goals for better health. One of the first ways you can start to improve your health, is through prevention. The first CDC Public Health Grand Rounds of 2019 features "Preventing Cervical Cancer in the 21st Century." This presentation will highlight future screening and vaccination efforts across the country and what has been done at the local level to prevent cervical cancer.

January is also Cervical Cancer Awareness Month and is the time to share information to increase understanding of cervical cancer and promote what you can do to prevent it and reduce your risk. Every year, more than 12,000 women get cervical cancer. Most cervical cancers are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus that is passed from person to person during sex. The good news is that cervical cancer rates are going down generally due to screening. About 93% of cervical cancers can be prevented, as well as cured when found and treated early.

Join us for this session of Grand Rounds in person or through live webcast on January 15, from 1:00 - 2:00 pm (ET) at CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

Get Inspired! Find Your Reason to Quit Smoking

Welcome to 2019! Many people bring in the New Year with a resolution to become healthier. For some, the first step to better health is to quit smoking. This is also a step toward cancer prevention. Tobacco use causes at least twelve types of cancer. Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. Finding your reason to quit smoking may help you take that first step. In a new blog post, Jane Henley, a cancer epidemiologist in DCPC, shares her personal story about the effects of smoking among her family and friends, and the different reasons for quitting smoking. The blog also includes several resources to quit smoking.

Special Issue Publication Highlights Comprehensive Cancer Control:
Twenty Years of Progress

A new Special Issue of the journal Cancer Causes and Control (Volume 29, Number 12, December 2018) celebrates the accomplishments of the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) and comprehensive cancer control (CCC) coalitions’ efforts and progress in advancing cancer control in the United States. The NCCCP currently supports cancer control planning and implementation in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, eight tribes or tribal organizations, and seven U.S. Territories. The CCC approach brings partners together to address the cancer burden in a community by assessing the use of existing resources and identifying and focusing on cancer-related issues and needs. This Special Issue highlights the progress made over the past twenty years in addressing the cancer burden through the CCC approach and looks at how CCC programs and coalitions have changed over the years, and how they can affect change through policy, systems and environmental approaches in areas such as liver cancer prevention, lung cancer screening, and addressing cancer survivors’ wellness. The importance of these strong and effective partnerships are featured in a collection of articles including these by CDC authors and co-authors.

Summary article Comprehensive cancer control in the US: summarizing twenty years of progress and looking ahead

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Knowing Your Family Health History Benefits Your Health

It seems there are many promotions for products offering deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing that can provide your genetic code, help you connect with DNA relatives, and maybe even track your family ancestry. Whether you decide to use one of these products or not, consider learning more about your family’s history of health conditions. Your family medical history is a record of diseases and conditions that run in your family, especially among close relatives. For example, a family history of breast, ovarian, uterine, and colorectal cancers can increase a woman’s risk for developing these cancers. In addition, a man’s risk for prostate cancerand colorectal cancer increases when there is a family history of these cancers. Talking with your doctor about your family medical history can help you find out more about your risk. It can also help you and your doctor decide what screening tests you need, when to start, and how often to be tested. Knowing your family history also helps you and your doctor decide if genetic counseling or testing may be right for you. Starting the conversation about the health history of your family can lead to the right decision for cancer screenings and better health for you and your family.

Did You Know?

Each year, more than 4,000 women die of cervical cancer in the United States.
Cervical cancer rates are higher among black and Hispanic women compared to women of other races and ethnicities.