Director's Update: September 23, 2003
As we work together to eliminate suffering and death due to cancer for all people, we must never lose sight of the fact that certain communities currently bear a disproportionate share of the cancer burden. This year, we at the National Cancer Institute have expanded our commitment to reducing cancer health disparities in a number of important ways, including support of a trans-U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiative based on our Progress Review Group (PRG) process. And one of our efforts I would like to highlight is our 9 A Day campaign, which reaches out to African-American men with the message to eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables each day to help reduce their risk of cancer and the other diet-related diseases that disproportionately affect them.
African-American men have the highest rates of prostate, lung, colon, oral, and stomach cancers, and are dramatically more likely to die from cancer than are white men. One-third of all cancers are related to diet, and although black men are among the most seriously affected by diet-related disease, on average they eat only three servings of fruits and vegetables a day - only one-third of the amount recommended for adult males. The simple act of eating more fruits and vegetables can help reduce the risk of many types of cancer and other diet-related diseases that affect African-American men in epidemic proportions.
The 9 A Day campaign, launched during National Minority Cancer Awareness Week in April 2003 with HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, has been extremely successful in reaching the African-American community through a variety of venues:
National radio ads and educational messages, airing this month on ABC's Urban Advantage Network, are reaching more than 17 million listeners per week through 217-plus affiliate stations. You can listen or download these spots online from the campaign's Web site at http://5aday.gov/9aday/blackmenshealth/index.html. We are working closely with several African-American organizations - including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League - to inform their members in a number of ways about the importance of eating more fruits and vegetables. We are conducting scientific sessions to harness the support and influence of health professionals. At the National Medical Association's annual meeting this past August, we worked collaboratively with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to brief African-American physicians about the role they can play in promoting increased fruit and vegetable consumption among their patients. They, in turn, urged NCI to play a bigger role at next year's meeting, and expressed considerable interest in disseminating NCI's 9 A Day educational materials through their professional networks and practices. In collaboration with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, we are publishing a monthly newspaper column, "Eat Better, Live Better," bylined by well-known African-American physician Dr. Terry Mason. The column is distributed to over 200 African-American-owned newspapers nationwide.
As we move through this year and next year, we will further expand our commitment to reducing health disparities by disseminating our faith-based Body & Soul Program nationwide. The Body & Soul Program - developed collaboratively by NCI, the American Cancer Society, and African-American churches - is based on highly successful NCI-funded intervention trials that increased fruit and vegetable consumption among church members. As such, Body & Soul represents a unique opportunity for NCI to disseminate an evidence-based cancer prevention initiative to African-American churches nationwide.
Please check out our Web site - 9aday.cancer.gov - to stay current with the progress and activities of this campaign. For additional information related to cancer health disparities and minorities, visit our Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities Web site at http://crchd.nci.nih.gov/.
I look forward to providing you with information about our other efforts to address cancer health disparities in subsequent Updates.
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
Director, National Cancer Institute
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