Prevention Programs

• As part of its National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, the CDC has supported the development of cancer control programs in all 50 states, some Native American tribes and in U.S. territories. Most of these cancer control programs address prostate cancer as part of their overall strategy to prevent cancer incidence and deaths in local communities through encouragement of healthy lifestyles, promotion of screenings and tests, aiding access to quality cancer care and overall improvement of quality of life for cancer patients.
  
  The CDC also sponsors research to determine how specific interventions and prevention strategies affect overall outcomes, and it helps track and enhance data in national cancer registries. These registries show important demographics at the time of diagnosis, and sharing optimally collected data helps doctors so they can adjust how they screen and work with other patients to prevent cancer or at least identify it earlier.
  
  

Education

• Prostate cancer prevention that the CDC supports also falls into the category of patient education. Educating men about healthy lifestyles to avoid cancer is an important part of prevention, as well as teaching them about the importance of screenings, learning when they should get screened for prostate cancer and discussing ways to learn more about the stages of prostate cancer and associated treatment options. The CDC has developed decision guides about prostate cancer screening for both general audiences and for specialized audiences, such as Hispanic and black men. The CDC has also developed an interactive CDROM that educates men about prostate cancer risks, prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment.