Rural

Some key components of comprehensive cancer control plans include the development of goals, objectives and strategies to address the cancer burden within the state, tribal organization or territory. These goals, objectives and strategies can help spur collaboration between partners. During a webinar from the Geographic Health Equity Alliance in partnership with the Advancing Cancer and Rural Equity (ACRE) lab, three presenters discussed different ways in which evidence-based strategies have been implemented to improve cancer screening in rural areas.

It is a common trope in business, healthcare and many other sectors—to be effective in our work, we cannot be confined to silos. While it may be a cliché, it is also true! Collaboration is key to success in any endeavor. This is particularly true in reducing rural health inequities. As we recognize National Rural Health Day on Thursday, November 17, 2022, we know that collaboration—not working in silos—will advance cancer and rural equity.

GHEA and the University of Iowa’s Advancing Cancer and Rural Equity Lab hosted "Identifying and Implementing Evidence-Based Strategies in Comprehensive Cancer Control Planning" on October 26, 2022. This webinar highlighted examples of evidence-based strategies for cancer control and how these have been effectively implemented in rural communities, organizations and clinical settings. Watch the recording today!

GHEA and the University of Iowa’s Advancing Cancer and Rural Equity Lab hosted "Setting Rural-Focused Goals and Strategies in Comprehensive Cancer Control Planning" on September 22, 2022. This webinar provided best practices for developing goals, objectives, and strategies that address both the unique challenges and strengths of rural communities. 

GHEA and the University of Iowa’s Advancing Cancer and Rural Equity Lab hosted "Building Rural-Focused Partnerships in Comprehensive Cancer Control Planning" on August 16, 2022. This webinar discussed how to build partnerships with rural partners to support rural cancer control and highlighted state plans and consortia who have ensured rural voices are at the table.

With summer in full swing, the Geographic Health Equity Alliance (GHEA) is highlighting two exciting webinar series that we don’t want you to miss out on. We invite you to join us for our upcoming tobacco- and cancer- prevention and control webinars and watch the recordings of the archived webinars.

GHEA and the University of Iowa’s Advancing Cancer and Rural Equity Lab hosted "Defining and Describing Rural Communities in Comprehensive Cancer Control Planning" on June 7, 2022. This webinar focused on how rural is commonly defined, what data sources are available to describe the rural cancer burden and cancer risk factors to incorporate into comprehensive cancer control plans.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has compiled a collection of resources that focus on factors that impact health and opportunities in rural communities and advance health equity in America.

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) recently published two policy briefs on Health Equity and Rural Health for their Legislative Prospectus series. These briefs anticipate trends in public health law, summarize upcoming legislation proposals that impact public health and provide a short review to help bring readers up to speed in time for upcoming legislative sessions.

In the United States, rates of tobacco use are higher in rural than urban populations, yet rural communities often lack the tobacco control policy coverage present in more urban areas. While there are several reasons why policy adoption may be more challenging in rural areas, some rural communities have found success with local-level tobacco control policies.

GHEA partnered with the National Network of Public Health Institutes and the Maine Public Health Institute at the University of Southern Maine to present the webinar “Tobacco Prevention and Control in Rural America,” on October 30. The webinar presented current rural tobacco prevention and control activities and shared strategies and recommendations for advancing tobacco control in rural communities across the country.

When it comes to promoting healthy behaviors and the causes we care about, why do people have such wildly different responses? Despite our best work communicating for a safe, drug- and tobacco-free community, we often face resistance to real change. Research shows that building effective communications strategy requires us to look beyond our personal interests and focus instead on the people we’re supporting and what they care about most.