Originally published June 9 2005
Study of cancer in minority groups bolstered by $95 million grant
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The National Cancer Institute awarded community programs $95 million to find better answers for the higher cancer death rates among people in minority groups. Of this money, $2.5 million will be used by research and community programs to study why so many blacks in Detroit are behind in testing and treatment of cancer. The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University's Institute of Gerontology will administer the Community Networks Program. Nationwide, blacks have the highest death rate of any racial or ethnic group for all cancers combined.
The grant, announced Monday at a news conference at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, will pay for research and community programs during the next five years to better understand why African Americans lag behind whites in getting tested for cancer and why it takes them longer, once diagnosed, to be treated.
Leaders of more than 20 community groups will meet this summer to set spending priorities, says Terrance Albrecht, PhD, director of the CNP and director of Karmanos' Communication and Behavioral Oncology Program.
One idea under consideration is a program that would use health navigators -- people trained to understand the health-care system -- to work with doctors and minority patients to get people who've been diagnosed with cancer better access to resources from support groups to treatment options, Albrecht says.
The grant was part of $95 million the National Cancer Institute awarded community programs to find better answers for the higher cancer death rates among people in minority groups.
Nationwide, African Americans have the highest death rate of any racial or ethnic group for all cancers combined and the most deaths for certain cancers, including prostate, lung, colorectal, stomach and liver tumors, according to the American Cancer Society.
Testing for prostate cancer is low among African-American men because they abhor undergoing a digital rectal exam to find it, says Myron Frasier, a Southfield city councilman and Karmanos institute board member.
Dr. John Ruckdeschel, president of the Karmanos institute, says prostate cancer may occur more among black men for genetic reasons, but he and Albrecht say more research is needed to learn whether genetics, lack of insurance, smoking, other health problems and lifestyle reasons combine to cause disparities.
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