American Cancer Society Applauds Congress for Efforts to Address Health Disparities

American Cancer Society
Friday, 22 September 2000

The American Cancer Society, the nation's leading voluntary health organization, today applauded Congress for its bipartisan passage of the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000 (S. 1880). The bill, which passed the House yesterday, seeks to enhance the federal government's commitment to improving the health of minorities and medically underserved populations principally through the work of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"We are pleased that Congress recognized the importance of passing this bipartisan legislation. The door is now open, the voices of the underserved will be heard, and health disparities, including those in cancer, can be brought to light and addressed," said Dr. John R. Kelly, Ph.D., national volunteer, Chairman of the Board for the American Cancer Society. "It is imperative that we provide access to quality health care that can break down the barriers to geography, language, fear and distrust of health care providers. Access is the door through which all Americans must pass to become empowered, informed, and healthier individuals."

"This action by Congress takes an important step in the right direction of raising awareness of a pervasive problem and focusing resources on finding solutions. We are grateful to the bill's many sponsors and all Members for giving this legislation the unanimous support of the Congress," Kelly said.

Reducing the unequal burden of cancer is a central priority of the American Cancer Society, which has advocated aggressively for enactment of S. 1880. Last month, Elmer Huerta, M.D., MPH, national volunteer board member of the American Cancer Society, appeared before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform at a hearing entitled, "Ethnic Minority Disparities in Cancer Treatment: Why the Unequal Burden?" In his testimony, Dr. Huerta addressed the fact that communities of color have made significant contributions to this country, however, they are not pictures of health. The American Cancer Society remains committed to addressing the issues of disparities in cancer incidence and mortality.

"If the public health community continues to work diligently with Congress and the Administration to increase investments in cancer research and access targeted at the community level – particularly in the medically underserved communities – we can reduce death and suffering by preventing cancer from occurring in the first place, or if cancer occurs, detecting it at its earliest, most treatable stage," added Kelly.

The bipartisan legislation will establish a Center of Research on Minority Health at NIH. The Center will support research on issues related to health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities, including cultural biases in health care access and delivery, effective interventions, and development of outcome measures to assess and improve health care quality for minority communities.

African Americans overall are more likely to develop cancer than persons of any other racial and ethnic group and are twice as likely to die of cancer than Asian/Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Hispanics. Alaskan Native women are 30 percent more likely to die from cancer. The incidence of cervical cancer in Hispanic women has been consistently higher at all ages, although African American women have the highest death rate from cervical cancer. The higher cancer incidence and death rates among minorities and medically underserved populations suggest that not all Americans are benefiting equally from scientific breakthroughs and cancer prevention and control efforts.

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org