Cancer Conference Examines Racial Disparities in Health Care

Speakers at the 2001 Cancer Conference in Atlanta on Sept. 5 called on the medical community to examine and take steps to eliminate the "glaring" health disparities between "white cancer patients and their minority counterparts," the Florida Times-Union reports. Several types of cancers, including prostate cancer, have an "inordinately high incidence among minorities -- particularly among blacks," many of whom live in Southeastern states. For example, Georgia's population is more than 30% minority. Louis Sullivan, director of the Morehouse School of Medicine and former HHS secretary under the first President Bush, said that black men in Georgia "have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the nation." Speakers at the conference, sponsored by the CDC, called for increased minority representation in clinical trials, more collaboration among researchers and historically black universities and "heightened cultural competency training for physicians." They also urged health care workers to improve cancer screening, treatment and prevention efforts within minority communities, as studies have shown that many common types of cancers can be prevented if cancer-related behaviors, such as smoking, drinking and poor diet, are changed (Basinger, Florida Times-Union, 9/5).