Efforts Seek To Raise Cancer Awareness Among Hispanics, Highlight HIV/AIDS ‘Epidemic’ Among Blacks, Reduce Other Racial Health Disparities
- Cancer: The Miami-Dade branch of the American Cancer Society Miami and the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, has launched the 'Estamos Contigo' campaign, which translates to 'We Are With You,' and seeks to raise public awareness of cancer in the Hispanic community, the Miami Herald reports. As part of the multimedia public service campaign, ACS will run a series of Spanish-language public service announcements in the top 10 Hispanic markets through fall this year. The campaign also encourages people to use ACS as a resource for information and assistance (Miami Herald, 5/29).
- HIV/AIDS: The Mother Wit Institute's "Silence is Death" conference will be held on Saturday in Pensacola, Fla., where Tom Liberti, chief of the state health department's Bureau of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis, and Ron Henderson, statewide minority AIDS coordinator, "will put the spotlight on the rising HIV/AIDS epidemic" in the black community, the Pensacola News-Journal reports. Blacks in Florida make up 15% of the state population but account for more than half the HIV/AIDS cases, according to the News-Journal. Liberti said that mobilization and education of the black community is key in curbing the spread of HIV among the group. Henderson said officials are "trying to educate people where they live, work, play and worship" (Dogan, Pensacola News-Journal, 5/29).
- Infant mortality: The Delaware Healthy Mother and Infant Consortium in its annual report to the governor reported that the state has made progress in eliminating racial disparities between black and white infant mortality rates, the AP/Wilmington News Journal reports. Efforts by the state include pre-conception care, reproductive health services, nutrition counseling, and referrals to drug and alcohol treatment programs or smoking cessation programs. The programs are focused on areas that have the largest racial and ethnic disparities gap, according to the AP/News Journal (AP/Wilmington News Journal, 5/27).
- Media: The media need to report more in-depth, investigative news stories related to racial health disparities to help mobilize and educate minority groups to make changes that will improve their health, according to a new book by a University of Missouri professor. Glen Cameron, co-author of the book, and co-director and scientific adviser of the Health Communication Research Center at the university, said improving news coverage of health disparities would help address the issue by increasing public awareness of issues and promote efforts that address them. The book features interviews with health care journalists and public relations specialists from across the nation about the content of black and mainstream newspapers (University of Missouri release, 5/28).
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