About Us

Our Mission

We eliminate suffering and death in Louisiana by focusing on cancers that can be prevented or detected early and cured, specifically breast, cervical and HPV-related, colorectal, and lung and tobacco-related cancers.

History

In 1990, Congress passed the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act of 1990, which directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), providing low-income, uninsured, and underserved women timely breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services. Currently, the NBCCEDP funds these efforts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 5 U.S. territories, and 11 American tribes or tribal organizations. In October 2002 as part of the NBCCEDP, the Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program (LBCHP) was established at the Louisiana State University Health New Orleans’ School of Public Health. It is the only NBCCEDP program housed at an academic institution and, after cost-effectively bringing up the state’s breast cancer screening rates and bringing down the state’s top breast cancer death rate, is considered one of the most successful programs of its kind.

That success and others led to the CD funding other cancer-fighting programs and projects, including the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, and the establishment of the Louisiana Cancer Prevention & Control Programs (LCP) as an umbrella organization for these efforts. Housed at LSU Health New Orleans’ School of Public Health, LCP works on a variety of efforts and receives additional support from funders and partners such as the American Cancer Society, the Louisiana Public Health Institute, the State of Louisiana, private companies, and people like you.