Objectives | Current Activities | Accomplishments | Resources

Co-Chairs
Susanne Tanski, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Kate McNally, Cheshire Coalition for Tobacco-Free Communities

“Cancer prevention is action taken to lower the chance of getting cancer. By preventing cancer, the number of new cases of cancer in a group or population is lowered.”
— National Cancer Institute

There are many ways to reduce your risk of developing cancer. Primary prevention focuses on changing behaviors to reduce the risk of developing cancer. The NH CCC’s primary prevention work group has focused its efforts on three areas:

• Tobacco use. With 17% of NH adults reporting that they smoked tobacco products in 2008 and 20% of NH teens reporting that they smoked tobacco products in 2007, the effort to reduce and eliminate the use of tobacco is still at the forefront of cancer prevention. In order to reduce the incidence of tobacco-related disease and preventable deaths, the primary prevention work group fully supports the New Hampshire Tobacco Prevention and Control Program’s comprehensive efforts to reduce and eliminate the use of and exposure to tobacco. Several of the objectives described in this section have been designed to prevent children from starting a tobacco habit; eliminate nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke; promote quitting among adults and youth; as well as and identify and eliminate tobacco-related disparities among races.
• Obesity, nutrition, and physical activity. The 2008 NH BRFSS found that 63% of New Hampshire adults reported being overweight or obese. For New Hampshire youth (students in grades 9 through 12), 26% reported being overweight or obese.16 Maintaining a healthy weight is believed to be a key factor in reducing risk for cancer, particularly for colon cancer and postmenopausal breast cancer. A person’s healthy weight is related to nutrition and physical activity. The primary prevention work group has developed objectives to reduce the number of obese and overweight New Hampshire residents; increase the intake of healthy foods and drinks, consistent with the 2007 World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research recommendations; and increase the amount of physical activity New Hampshire residents participate in.
• Sun safety. Skin cancer is highly preventable by reducing and eliminating exposure to sources of cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation, such as sunlight, sunlamps, and indoor tanning facilities. In June 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) raised the cancer risk category of indoor tanning to the highest level, carcinogenic to humans. After a comprehensive analysis, the IARC concluded that the risk of melanoma increases by 75% when people begin indoor tanning before the age of 30.29 The work group aims to promote these sun-safety messages in New Hampshire in the coming years through several of its strategies.

Sixteen objectives have been identified to guide primary prevention activities. Preliminary strategies for these objectives have also been identified, and will be clarified and expanded by the workgroup as it begins the implementation process.

Objectives | Current Activities | Accomplishments | NH Cancer Plan | Resources

New Hampshire Comprehensive Cancer Collaboration, c/o Foundation for Healthy Communities
125 Airport Road Concord, NH 03301
phone (603) 415-4276 · fax (603) 225-4346 · email: info@nhcancerplan.org