MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services
By: Representative Hines
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-3-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DIRECT THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO ESTABLISH THE WISEWOMAN AND WISEMAN PROGRAMS TO REDUCE THE INCIDENCES OF CERTAIN CHRONIC DISEASES AMONG MISSISSIPPIANS THROUGH EDUCATION, PREVENTION AND EARLY SCREENING AND DETECTION; TO PROVIDE THAT THE PROGRAMS SHALL BE IMPLEMENTED IN EACH COUNTY THAT IS LOCATED WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY WEST OF INTERSTATE 55 AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 41-3-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-3-13. (1) The Legislature makes the following findings:
(a) Chronic diseases are among the most prevalent, costly and preventable of all health problems.
(b) Screening tests are currently available that can detect heart disease, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and other chronic diseases early, when they can be most effectively treated, managed or controlled.
(c) The risk factors for many chronic diseases can be addressed and reduced through education about those risk factors and the importance of actions that can be taken for prevention of chronic diseases.
(d) People should partner with their health care providers to have their risk factors assessed, monitored and managed in accordance with national guidelines, and should be educated about the signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke and the importance of getting help quickly at the onset of those symptoms.
(e) Mississippi should have programs that are specifically designed to reduce the incidences of chronic diseases among our population.
(2) The State Department of
Health * * * shall establish the WISEWOMAN * * * program and the WISEMAN * * * program, the purposes and goals of which
are to reduce the incidences of certain chronic diseases among Mississippians
through education, prevention and early screening and detection. * * * The WISEWOMAN and WISEMAN programs shall be implemented
in each county that is located wholly or partially west of Interstate 55.
The focus of the WISEWOMAN * * * program shall be heart disease, stroke,
breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer in women, and the focus of
the WISEMAN * * *
program shall be heart disease, stroke, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and
diabetes in men. At a minimum, the WISEWOMAN and WISEMAN * * * programs shall:
(a) Provide for education about healthy behaviors and how to reduce the risk factors for those chronic diseases;
(b) Provide for screening and testing to detect those chronic diseases early when they can be effectively treated, managed or controlled; and
(c) Be directed toward those populations at greatest need and be based on a foundation of scientific evidence.
(3) In implementing the
WISEWOMAN and WISEMAN * * * programs, the department shall contract with public or private
clinics or agencies that have demonstrated success in reducing incidences of
those chronic diseases through education, prevention and early screening and
detection.
(4) The department shall
seek and apply for grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and other public or private entities to obtain funding for the WISEWOMAN and
WISEMAN * * *
programs.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.