FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 17, 2008
CONTACT:
Lindsay Strug
(703) 299-1085
lindsay.strug@asco.org
ASCO Spotlights Health Disparities Issues during
National Minority Cancer Awareness Week
Alexandria, Va.- Next week marks the 20th anniversary of National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, established by Congress to bring attention to health disparities experienced by minority groups. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is developing tools and resources for improving access to care for people with cancer in underserved communities and increasing minority representation in the oncology workforce.
"Eliminating disparities in cancer care is a major ASCO objective, to ensure that all people with cancer have access to high-quality cancer care," said ASCO President Nancy Davidson, MD.
An Institute of Medicine (IOM) report from 2002 provided overwhelming evidence that racial and ethnic minorities and indigent populations suffer disparities in health care. And oncology is no exception - patterns of cancer incidence and mortality show a strong contrast between minorities and non-minorities.
For example, African American men have the highest incidence rate for prostate cancer in the United States and are more than twice as likely as white men to die of the disease. In addition, the overall lifetime risk of breast cancer is lower for African American women compared with white American women, but death rates for African American women are higher, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. African American women also have a higher rate of being diagnosed at first presentation with more advanced stage/lymph node-positive disease.
Many issues contribute to health disparities in the United States, including lack of access to health care, lack of health insurance, poverty, language and literacy barriers, and low expectations of the result of cancer treatment, doctors, and/or the health-care system. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the uninsured rate for non-Hispanic whites was statistically unchanged from 2005 to 2006. However, the uninsured rates among Latinos during same time increased in 2006 by almost 2 percent, or 1.4 million Latinos.
"More research is being focused on the differences in the occurrence, frequency, treatment and survival of cancer of different populations in the United States, said Derek Raghavan MD, PhD, chairman and director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center and co-chair of ASCO's Health Disparities Advisory Group." Expanding this research could lead to better treatments for specific populations, while also advancing our understanding of how cancer affects those populations."
ASCO created a new Web site, www.asco.org/healthdisparities, which contains an array of resources addressing health disparities issues to educate oncologists and other health care providers, people with cancer, and the general public. ASCO also developed a Health Disparities fact sheet that includes statistics on how health disparities affect different ethnic and racial groups.
ASCO formed its Health Disparities Advisory Group in 2002 to develop programmatic and policy solutions targeting the following areas:
- Training care providers in the oncology community on how to address the needs of patients from underserved or minority populations.
- Increasing the diversity of the clinical oncology workforce as a requisite to improving access to cancer care for the underserved.
- Prioritizing research and the development of clinical cancer researchers in the area of health disparities and differences in the biology of cancer in different population groups.
- Advocating public policies that ensure access to cancer care for the underserved and support increased clinical cancer research in health disparities.
- Establishing programs to help eliminate health care disparities in cancer risk assessment and early detection.
Enhancing minority recruitment to the field of clinical oncology is a key initiative under way at ASCO. "By increasing minority representation among clinical oncologists, our hope is that will lead to increased and improved cancer care for underserved minority groups, as well as to increased research on health disparities," said Otis Brawley MD, co-chair of ASCO's Health Disparities Advisory Group.
The new ASCO Web site, www.asco.org/healthdisparities, includes the following information:
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The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is the world's leading professional organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer. With more than 25,000 members, ASCO is committed to improving cancer care through scientific meetings, educational programs and peer-reviewed journals. For ASCO information and resources, visit www.asco.org/presscenter. Patient-oriented cancer information is available at www.cancer.net.
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