At Call-on Congress we received several questions, one common one being, "How will we evaluate the success of the 80% by 2018 campaign?" The National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT) has chosen to use the “Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey” for overall evaluation of the 80% by 2018 initiative. While it's true we won't know the final results of the initiative for a few years after the campaign ends, there is data already established from the last year or two that tells us where we are and gives an idea of where we can go! Depending on the source, data is collected and analyzed on a cyclical basis, which creates a lag in availability. Fight Colorectal Cancer is actively involved in this evaluation process and will be sure to let you know the progress of the campaign as soon as the results are out!

What about my state's info?

In addition to national data, each state also keeps track of its screening, incidence and death rates. You can find that info in our blog post about state-specific colorectal cancer statistics.

What can you do to help?

Ongoing tracking and measurement can be found through the sources above, but another great way to see progress toward reaching 80% by 2018 is to get involved yourself! NCCRT, American Cancer Society and Centers for Disease Control teamed up to create a Communications Guidebook to better understand who is not being screened and how to tailor messaging to reach these individuals. To find out more about the messages we can use to ensure those 23 million Americans get screened regularly, see the Communications Guidebook.

What can you do today?

Share information about your state’s screening rates with policy makers, fellow advocates, support groups, medical providers and anyone you think can make a difference! If you are leading outreach campaign efforts in your community, such as on the radio, in the mail, at health fairs, etc., start tracking your results! NCCRT created tools to help you plan and track how you are doing. To find out what you can do to start evaluating and understanding the common evaluation jargon, see the NCCRT Evaluation Toolkit. There are lots of ways to get involved in the 80% by 2018 initiative and to measure our progress. Read more.

Reaching the goal

If we meet this goal – the results could be amazing.

“Achieving our 80% by 2018 goal would prevent more than 200,000 deaths from colorectal cancer, and by 2030 we would be preventing 21,000 colorectal cancer deaths every year.” source.

As the Co-Chair for the Evidence-Based Health Outreach Committee of NCCRT, it is part of my primary focus to ensure all members and efforts, at every level, are evaluating our efforts to get to 80% by 2018. We ALL play a part in reaching 80% by 2018!

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