Development of a sustainable, institutionalized cancer awareness infrastructure in Mississippi

The National Cancer Institute-funded Deep South Network for Cancer Control (DSNCC) was established to promote cancer awareness and reduce cancer disparities in Alabama and Mississippi, states with substantial minority populations and some of the nation's worst health indicators. A goal of the DSNCC was development of a community infrastructure capable of promoting cancer awareness. This presentation will describe the institutionalization of the DSNCC model in Mississippi, including the recent development of the Mississippi Network for Cancer Control and Prevention (MNCCP). With initial funding provided through DSNCC, Mississippi 1) developed a community infrastructure capable of promoting cancer awareness programming where none had previously existed; 2) trained and mobilized over 1,000 volunteer lay health advisors (CHARPS); 3) formed partnerships with the Mississippi Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, American Cancer Society, and the state's CMS-funded quality improvement organization, among others; 4) with academic partners, obtained supplemental funding for research utilizing CHARPs; and, 5) empowered private citizens to form the non-profit Fannie Lou Hamer Cancer Foundation, which has raised over $100,000 from local government, foundations, and private fundraising to promote breast/cervical cancer awareness in the Mississippi Delta. Institutionalization of the DSNCC model recently prompted Mississippi partners to form a separate identity, the MNCCP, to continue cancer awareness activities without funding from the DSNCC grantee. The MNCCP has a foundation of well-established partnerships. Building upon that success, the MNCCP and the Fannie Lou Hamer Cancer Foundation are examples of sustainable outgrowths of federal funding to eliminate cancer health disparities among Mississippi's African Americans.