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The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide,
community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating
cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and
diminishing suffering through research, education, advocacy, and service.
This organization has over two million volunteers nationwide and is one of
the oldest and largest voluntary health agencies in the United States. Its
headquarters is based in Atlanta, Georgia and they have state divisions and
more than three thousand four hundred local offices.
The American Cancer Society’s international mission concentrates on capacity
building in developing cancer societies and on collaborations with other
cancer-related organizations throughout the world in carrying shared
strategic directions.
The American Cancer Society fights cancer through research, education,
advocacy, and service. The research programs of the ACS are aimed in
determining the causes of cancer and to support efforts to prevent and cure
the disease. It is the largest source of private, nonprofit cancer research
funds in the United States, second only to the federal government in total
dollars spent. The research program focuses primarily on peer-reviewed
projects initiated by beginning investigators working in leading medical and
scientific institutions across the country. Educational efforts of the ACS
include tobacco control, relationship between diet and physical activity and
cancer, sun safety, and comprehensive school health education.
The society
offers programs to help educate the public about cancer risks, early
detection methods, and prevention. Knowing the facts about cancer can save
lives. What you eat and drink, how you live, where you work, all these
factors can affect the risk for cancer and primary cancer prevention means
taking the necessary precautions to prevent the occurrence of cancer.
The
society’s advocacy efforts work in concert with research, education and
service initiatives to strengthen the nation’s law, regulations, and
programs in a way that will increase federal funding for cancer research,
help more people benefit from advances in prevention, early detection and
treatment, make it easier for patients to navigate the health care system,
and improve the quality of life of cancer patients, survivors, and their
families.
Because cancer takes a toll on the person diagnosed as well as
family and friends, the society offers support and service programs to try
to lessen the impact. These programs cover wide range of needs, from
connecting patients with other survivors to providing a place to stay when
treatment facilities are far from home.
The American Cancer Society, Inc. is governed by two national groups with
distinctive roles: the National Assembly and the National Board of
directors. The voting members of both are volunteers from medical and lay
communities. The society takes its mission seriously and therefore works to
protect resources entrusted to it by the public. An appropriately structured
system of organizational governance ensures proper checks and balances of
the input of appropriate experts in decision-making and strategic oversight
of comprehensive nationwide operations.
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