Obesity-related cancers (esophageal, colon, pancreatic, breast, uterine, kidney and thyroid) account for approximately 36% of expected new cancer cases in El Paso County. The incidence of cancer is expected to rise due to the increasing prevalence of obesity in the county, with 70% of the population being overweight or obese. In order to address the growing public health threat of obesity-related cancers in our underserved border community, the overall goal of the study is to deliver a sustainable multilevel community based cancer awareness and obesity prevention program.

 We will use a wide-scaled community organization partnership across El Paso County (ho...

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Obesity-related cancers (esophageal, colon, pancreatic, breast, uterine, kidney and thyroid) account for approximately 36% of expected new cancer cases in El Paso County. The incidence of cancer is expected to rise due to the increasing prevalence of obesity in the county, with 70% of the population being overweight or obese. In order to address the growing public health threat of obesity-related cancers in our underserved border community, the overall goal of the study is to deliver a sustainable multilevel community based cancer awareness and obesity prevention program.

We will use a wide-scaled community organization partnership across El Paso County to 1) Deliver promotora-led education and outreach on obesity prevention, physical activity and nutrition. 2) Provide navigation to low or no-cost physical activity and nutrition resources using our newly created website. 3) Deliver obesity counseling training to physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers through CME/CEU workshops. 4) Implement an obesity prevention curriculum for residents, medical students, and nursing students at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. 5) Create a sustainable infrastructure for long-term obesity-related cancer prevention through coalition building, work-based challenges and launching a website to provide resources and information on how to increase physical activity and improve nutrition.

Specific Goals: Goal 1. Improve clinical measures of obesity through the implementation of an education, outreach, and navigation program in El Paso County. Goal 2. Enhance the uptake of evidence–based obesity prevention and treatment strategies by healthcare providers in the health care setting. Goal 3. Create sustainable community solutions to decrease obesity prevalence in El Paso County.

There are few cancer prevention programs that target obesity as a modifiable risk factor for multiple cancers in the Hispanic and border community in general. Furthermore, few, if any, obesity prevention programs take on a multilevel approach targeting 1. Individuals, 2. Physicians and healthcare workers and 3. Community agencies as proposed in this application.

The innovative aspects of this proposed project include: 1. Providing an enhanced cancer prevention program that includes culturally-sensitive obesity education and outreach using promotoras, 2. Training current and future physicians and healthcare workers on counseling and other strategies for preventing obesity in a clinic setting, and  3. Supporting county-wide infrastructure to prevent obesity-related cancer in El Paso County through coalition building, building a website for physical activity and nutrition resources and promoting work-based challenges.

Obesity rates in El Paso County are high with no immediate signs of decline. As a result, obesity-related cancer incidence is expected to increase. Therefore, approaches to prevent increased cancer incidence must be comprehensive, intervening at multiple levels. We expect our program to reach a large number of El Paso residents; providing education and outreach, healthcare professional training, resource sharing and website development to assure long-term sustainability.

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