About Native People for Cancer Control
Most American Indian and Alaska Native languages do not have a word for cancer, perhaps because until recently, cancer was a rare disease in Native communities. In the past 50 years, however, cancer has become the second leading cause of death for American Indians and the leading cause of death among Alaska Natives. These populations also experience the worst cancer-related disparities of any minority group in the U.S. in terms of poverty, lack of access to screening and high quality care, encouragement for health-promoting behaviors, and access to clinical cancer trials. These factors have resulted in the poorest survival for American Indians and Alaska Natives from all cancers combined among all racial/ethnic groups. In the 2000 Census, 4.1 million persons self-identified as American Indian or Alaska Native. The Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains states are among those with the highest percentage of American Indians or Alaska Natives: Alaska (16.4%), South Dakota (8.2%), Montana (6.5%), North Dakota (4.8%), Wyoming (2.3%), and Washington (1.8%). Although cancer rates and mortality vary geographically, many of the most striking cancer-related health disparities are experienced by American Indians and Alaska Natives living in these areas. Yet this region also has many strengths that can alleviate cancer disparities, such as active community organizations, networks of tribal colleges, excellent training programs, committed Native researchers, and world-class academic institutions.
Native People for Cancer Control is one of 25 Community Networks Programs funded by the National Cancer Institute to enhance existing relationships and programs and to build new bridges that will improve education, training, and research in cancer. Spearheaded by Dr. Buchwald, this program, which is a collaborative effort between the UW CCER and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, uses community-based participatory methods in an integrated, stepwise strategy to
1. Increase cancer education activities among American Indians and Alaska Natives
2. Build the capacity of tribal colleges and universities to become partners and leaders in cancer-related investigative and dissemination efforts
3. Enhance training opportunities for Native researchers
4. Conduct community-based research on access to care, health promotion, and disease prevention activities that target key cancer disparity issues
5. Reduce cancer-related health disparities by increasing access to and use of feasible interventions.
To achieve these aims, the program will organize network participants into several cores and operational units, each with distinct but connected functions. These include the Community, Training, and Research Cores. The program will also conduct rigorous yearly internal evaluations to determine the efficacy of our interventions to reduce cancer disparities and to create educational opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Native laypeople and professionals.
