Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network is a National Cancer Institute-funded initiative to combat cancer among Latinos. A multi-faceted approach to cancer prevention and control, Redes En Acción has built a nationwide network of community-based organizations, research institutions, government health agencies and the public. Core activities include promoting training and research opportunities for Latino students and researchers, generating research projects on key Latino cancer issues, and supporting cancer awareness activities within the Latino community. Now, under the NCI's new Community Networks Program (CNP) initiative, Redes is expanding its efforts to fight cancer in Latino communities throughout the United States by working to expand the existing Redes En Acción organizational infrastructure into a sustainable network that will reduce cancer health disparities through cancer education, research and training within and among the U.S. and Puerto Rico, with research on policy and organizational change and on the effects of innovative interventions to reduce disparities.

New Resource Details Pioneering Hispanic Health Status Review

A new report on the health status of one of the nation's heaviest concentrations of Latinos found a striking level of adult obesity - higher than in the rest of the nation - and therefore a greater disease risk, particularly for diabetes but also for heart disease and some cancers.
New Report on the Health Status of One
of Nation's Heaviest Concentrations of Latinos

The study, for the first time ever, provides in a single document detailed statistics of dozens of health conditions to illustrate the disparities by age, sex and race/ethnicity for South Texas' 38 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, the rest of Texas and the nation.

The South Texas Health Status Review was recently released by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The report was a collaboration of IHPR, the Regional Academic Health Center of UT Health Science Center, and the Texas Department of State Health Services. learn more

Redes Latino Cancer Experts Directory Now Online

A new resource is now available for the news media across the country. The Redes En Acción Latino Cancer Experts Directory is online and can be accessed through this Web site. A button on the home page (on the menu at left) will take you to a search engine, where Latino cancer experts nationwide can be located. The directory consists of physicians, researchers and others who have expertise in cancers and cancer issues of particular significance to Latinos. Experts in the directory are bilingual and available for interview by Spanish- and English-language media on a wide range of topics.

Also Available Online . . .

  • 3rd Annual San Diego Prevention Research Center (SDPRC) Latino Health Conference: The SDPRC Latino Health Conference: Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds will be May 7–8, 2008 in San Diego, California. This year’s conference aims to bring together promotores, community health workers, health educators, teachers, nurses, social workers, administrators, and program managers from community based organizations, health agencies, and schools that directly serve the Latino Community. The conference agenda includes informational, interactive, skill-building, team building, and networking sessions to better understand the link between mental and physical health. Registration information coming soon!
  • National Latino Cancer Summit: Latinas Contra Cancer is hosting the National Latino Cancer Summit: Science Meets Service, Moving Forward Together, scheduled July 30-August 1, 2008 in San Francisco, California. The goal of the Summit is to bring together cancer researchers, health policy experts, community activists, cancer survivors and health professionals to bring attention to the issue of cancer and cancer care disparities among Latinos in the U.S. Abstract deadline for oral or poster presentations is April 4, 2008. Learn more or register at: http://www.latinascontracancer.org
  • Ford and Komen Honor Redes "Warrior in Pink": When Celia Thompson was diagnosed with breast cancer, little did she know that an even greater shock was in store -- when she learned a few months later that her 30-year-old daughter also had the disease. Now cancer-free alongside her daughter, Celia was recently recognized by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the leader in the breast cancer movement, and Ford's Warriors in Pink campaign for her courageous spirit and strength in battling her own cancer while supporting and inspiring her daughter. learn more
  • Spanish/English Stop Smoking Internet Study: Redes En Acción supports a Stop Smoking Internet-based research study being conducted by Ricardo F. Muñoz, PhD, UCFS Professor of Psychology and Chief Psychologist at San Francisco General Hospital; Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD, UCSF Professor of Medicine and Co-PI for the Redes En Acción Northwest Regional Network Center; and Mr. Carlos Penilla of the University of California, San Francisco. Smoking kills an estimated 5 million people a year worldwide, including about 440,000 in the U.S. By the year 2030, it is estimated that this number will increase to 10 million per year worldwide, of whom most are smoking currently. The Internet Stop Smoking study has great potential for helping literally thousands of smokers to quit. The content of the intervention is based on the NCI-supported Guia Para Dejar de Fumar that was developed in 1987 and has been revised and updated four times. Previous studies by these researchers found quit rates at six months which are comparable to those found for the nicotine patch or for smoking cessation groups. And their quit rates were achieved solely via the Internet, at no cost to the smoker. The study is attempting to recruit 40,000 smokers worldwide and is particularly interested in reaching U.S. Latino smokers (English or Spanish speaking). The smoking cessation Web site can be found in English at www.stopsmoking.ucsf.edu or in Spanish at www.dejardefumar.ucsf.edu.
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