The Cancer Plan
Georgia’s Cancer Plan: A Roadmap for Saving Lives
Every year, more than 54,000 Georgians are diagnosed with cancer—and over 17,000 lose their lives to it. But Georgia has a plan to change that.
The Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan (2024–2029) is the state’s official roadmap to reduce the burden of cancer through prevention, early detection, high-quality treatment, survivorship support, and expanded access to palliative care. This plan was developed by a statewide coalition of experts, survivors, providers, policymakers, and community organizations—united in the belief that where you live, what you look like, or how much you earn should never determine your chances of surviving cancer.
Plan Priorities
This plan focuses on five bold priorities where Georgia can make the biggest difference. These five priorities were established by working groups following a review of the progress and outstanding objectives from the previous plan and an analysis of current priorities outlined in cancer control plans from states across the United States. Each of these five priorities has specific, measurable goals—backed by data, informed by community input, and centered on health equity.
Prevent Cancer
Objective 1: Support statewide efforts at addressing tobacco use and control, especially in the most adversely affected communities.
Objective 2: To raise awareness and education on HPV vaccination as cancer prevention for six HPV-related cancers.
Objective 3: To increase the percentage of vaccine-eligible individuals in Georgia starting at age 9 up to 26 years old who have completed the HPV vaccination series.
Detect Cancer Early
Objective 1A: Increase screening rates through the use of evidence-based approaches for the early detection of breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers in Georgians, with a focus on populations most adversely affected and burdened by these conditions.
Objective 1B: Increase early detection in high-risk persons who fall outside current criteria and recommendations to address health inequities.
Objective 2: Reduce disparities in screening rates among people groups and target populations through interventions to address health inequities.
Objective 3: Increase early detection rates for potentially aggressive cancers for which screening is not currently recommended (e.g., pancreatic, head and neck, and childhood leukemias and lymphomas) and encourage ongoing research.
Ensure High-Quality Treatment
Objective 1: Increase the use of evidence-based practices in cancer diagnosis, staging, and treatment across Georgia, with special emphasis on, though not limited to, the top five cancers and a focus on burdened populations in Georgia.
Objective 2: Increase equity in cancer care delivery through the identification and redress of root causes of the diagnosis, staging, and treatment disparities in Georgia, with special emphasis on the top five cancers and burdened populations.
Expand Access to Palliative Care
Objective 1: Comprehensively document and monitor the landscape of oncological palliative care in Georgia.
Objective 2A: Improve clinician awareness, skills, and use of oncological palliative care best practices and quality standards.
Objective 2B: Increase patient knowledge and awareness about oncological palliative care best practices and quality standards, focusing on burdened, underserved, and vulnerable populations.
Objective 3: Improve access to palliative oncological care and services for adults and children living in underserved communities in Georgia.
Improve Survivorship
Objective 1A: Improve the use of quality standards and practice guidelines for the timely diagnosis, staging, and treatment of cancers throughout Georgia, with emphasis on, though not limited to, lung, colorectal, breast, prostate, and cervical cancer.
Objective 2: Reduce diagnoses, staging, and treatment disparities (by race, residence, income, and insurance status) in Georgians with lung, colorectal, breast, prostate, and cervical cancer and study the impact on outcomes.
Objective 3: Study and understand the impact of reductions in diagnosis and treatment disparities on survivorship outcomes.