Publications

Current Fact Sheets

CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

We support a FY 2003 appropriation of $1.1 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) and the Youth Media Campaign.  This request represents a $350 million increase over 2002, which is necessary to fully fund CDC’s efforts to reduce unnecessary illness and death related to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes and to promote healthy lifestyles and behaviors among youth.

Actions

Increase CDC’s request to $1.1 billion for NCCDPHP, which includes funds for the essential framework for state-based programs including surveillance, health communications, public and professional education, quality assurance of screening, research, and evaluation of "what works".  Specifically this request includes funding for:

• $220 million for breast and cervical cancer programs including outreach and breast and cervical cancer screens for under served women
• $128 million for cancer prevention and control programs including cancer registries; colorectal, ovarian, prostate, and skin cancers; and comprehensive cancer control programs
• $130 million for tobacco prevention and control programs
• $83 million for comprehensive school health programs
• $60 million for nutrition and physical activity programs
• $125 million for a Youth Media Campaign

Facts about Chronic Disease

• Heart disease and stroke, cancer and diabetes account for 70% of all U.S. deaths (1.7 million people/year).  The underlying causes of deaths due to these diseases are often risk factors that could have been reduced through proven public health interventions, including health education and health promotion.
• Medical care costs of people with chronic disease account for more than 70% of the nation’s $1 trillion spent on health care costs annually in the U.S.
• The number of Americans affected by chronic diseases and enormous health care costs will escalate rapidly with the U.S. aging population – estimated to be 25% of the population in 2020.
• Tobacco use costs the U.S. at least $50 billion annually – almost $1billion every week.
• More than 22% of women smoke and over 2 million high school girls (35%) smoking during the past month.
• Diabetes, the nation’s 6^th leading killer, costs the nation more than $98 million in medical care and lost wages and causes more than 193,000 deaths among Americans annually.
• 60% of 5-10 year old overweight children already have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease and 20% have 2 or more.
• A recent Research!America survey shows that 52% of consumers believe preventable disease and injuries are a major health problem.  45% of consumers believe that their own state is spending too little on health promotion and disease prevention research.

Translating Research into Action at the State and Local Levels

Although research has helped to better understand the causes and risk factors for chronic diseases, effective measures are not being fully implemented at the state and local levels to PREVENT chronic disease and its devastating and costly consequences.  Behavioral and clinical research needs to be effectively promoted and applied at the community levels with the guidance of the nation’s prevention agency - CDC. 

CDC’s chronic prevention framework includes measures that have been shown to be effective and in many cases cost-effective in reducing chronic disease burden.

The President's FY 2003 budget request for NCDPHP is $697 million, which is a 7.5% decrease over 2002 funding.  Furthermore, the FY 2002 budget of $685 million represented a decrease of 0.3% from FY 2001 levels. 

The FY 2003 budget for NCCDPHP should be increased 46% to make up for missed opportunities in prior years to aggressively prevent chronic illnesses, thereby saving lives and reducing U.S. health care expenditures.

Return to Federal Prevention Facts Index

Return to DHPE Main Page