When it comes to Latinos and cancer, Ysabel Duron wants to take away the miedo.
It’s that miedo, or fear, that the veteran San Francisco television broadcaster - and a cancer survivor herself - believes is one of the many reasons her community remains in the dark about a disease that will claim the lives of one in five Latinos.
So Duron organized the National Latino Cancer Summit, a conference that starts today in San Francisco, bringing together oncology experts and health care workers from across the country with one main goal: bridge the gap between the Latino community and the experts who are on the cutting edge of cancer research and treatment.
“We are focused on bringing together those researchers with community members who are working in the trenches,” said Duron, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 10 years ago. “It [the information] gets out there on television, but who really hears it and how much do they hear, and how do they understand it?”
Statistically, the incidence of cancer is higher among whites and blacks compared with Latinos.
But Latinos’ survival rates are lower, because their cancers are often diagnosed at an advanced stage, said Dr. Elmer Huerta, president of the American Cancer Society, and the first Latino to hold that position.
About 40 percent of the U.S. Latino population is foreign-born, according to the 2006 American Community Survey. Many of them lack health insurance, Huerta said, or don’t speak English and don’t understand the American medical system, so they wait to see a doctor.
Popularity: 42% [?]
