Cancer in Your Community: Strategies to Reduce Cancer and Chronic Disease in the Arkansas Delta

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ABSTRACT Access to lung, breast, and colorectal cancer screening is low in the rural Arkansas Delta region, resulting in disproportionate cancer mortality and low life expectancy. To reduce cancer health disparities, the Arkansas Cancer Coalition’s Community-led Health Equity Team will investigate how a multisectoral coalition process can lead to sustainable interventions that reduce transportation inequities and increase demand for cancer screening in St. Francis County. St. Francis County, located in the rural Arkansas Delta region, is ranked among the least healthy counties in Arkansas and overall cancer mortality exceeds the national average. The Arkansas Cancer Coalition, the only statewide coalition that aims to reduce the burden of cancer in Arkansas, is uniquely positioned to execute a multilevel social-structural intervention that seeks to achieve transportation equity. MAP-IT (Mobilize, Assess, Plan, Implement and Track) and National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework will guide the community-led local coalition’s mixed-methods needs assessment that will inform the development and testing of a multilevel socio-structural intervention. Our novel approach seeks to 1) change county-level transportation systems that reduce poverty, transportation, and time burdens; 2) leverage regular access to mobile breast and lung cancer screening units; 3) work with partners to change policies to expand the reach of fecal immunochemical test screening and colonoscopy follow-up; and 4) work with health systems to build a sustainable reminder infrastructure that increases screening demand in rural areas. This project could have a significant impact on reducing the cancer burden on rural, underserved, poor and Black/African American people.