NAFEO's health programs seek to identify and address health disparities that plague the African-American and low-income communities.
In alignment with NAFEO’s capacity-building goals, one of the objectives of the Black Education And Training in Cancer: Cancer Research Consortium (“BEAT CANCER”) is to enhance the capacity of minority faculty, physicians, and medical school/allied health professions students to develop and implement cancer treatment and prevention research by engaging NAFEO members in collaborative efforts to decrease health disparities in target service areas. A separate objective of BEAT CANCER is to create a more diverse and culturally competent cancer-care workforce by increasing the number of minority students and faculty involved in cancer research at HBCUs.
At a time, when African-American women are 20% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer but are 30% more likely to die from it, members of this consortium are performing cutting edge experiments designed to identify ways to address and abate cancer. Programmatic activities focus on and evaluate applied cancer research projects at HBCUs geographically located at universities in areas with high cancer rates – Southern University-Baton Rouge, Howard University, and Jackson State University. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Southern University-Baton Rouge is developing interventions that will be culturally relevant and more likely to lead to consistent adoption of breast self-exam protocols by the African-American women in “Renaissance Village”, a FEMA trailer housing complex of approximately 1,700 Katrina evacuees.
NAFEO's role is to monitor project activities and provide technical assistance and support to subgrantees in the identification of professional mentoring opportunities and expansion of funding.
Howard University is conducting research to determine whether exercise is an important quality of life and mood-enhancing intervention for survivors of breast cancer. The team has developed and disseminated materials to recruit participants to the study using several mechanisms. Out of 76 applicants, 13 met the criteria for selection and 6 agreed to participate in the study. The interdisciplinary study team, which includes two students, randomly assigned the participants to study groups and they have been capturing data on aerobic capacity and anthropometric improvements using weekly logs. This project will allow Howard University Cancer Center to expand its population science division by focusing on behavioral methods of cancer control. Focusing on the benefits of exercise on the mental and physical well-being of cancer patients will inform both the scientific community as well as the patient community.
Jackson State University is conducting research about the potential anti-cancer agent(s) in Eb’eamwonkho leaves (SERH-4103), already verified and evidence in anecdotal research. This study aims to contribute to the national research expanding knowledge of the contribution of alternative medicine, such as herbal medicine/homeopathic, to cancer treatment.
Southern University-Baton Rouge is working on testing health interventions that increase African-American women’s breast self-exam practices, knowledge of risk and access to mammograms. The Southern University School of Nursing is responsible for delivery of primary health care outreach services to Katrina evacuees and family members through the Mobile Health Unit. There have been over 1,000 patient visits to the mobile health clinic since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, so the population to be studied was redefined to focus on the population in “Renaissance Village”, a FEMA trailer housing complex of approximately 1,700 Katrina evacuees. Program activities are currently focused on gathering information on perceptions of cancer and breast screening practices held by the residents, and what motivates them to conduct breast self-exams. The study team plans to develop interventions that will be culturally relevant and more likely to lead to consistent adoption of breast self-exam protocols by the African-American women in the study.
The purpose of the Utica College/NAFEO "Summer Institute on Infusing Cross-Cultural Aging Education into the Allied Health Curriculum" is to enhance the capacity of minority faculty, physicians, and medical school/allied health professions students to develop and implement discipline-specific geriatric interventions. Today older African Americans are at a growing risk of not receiving adequate health care, and 52% of African Americans report severe age-associated disabilities compared with 35% in the white population. Further exacerbating the problem is the scarcity of African-American allied health and nurse practitioners. In response, this program was developed to strengthen the general aging content and the cultural sensitivity, knowledge and behavior of allied health students. In three years, we have trained 82 faculty from 41 colleges and universities. 60 percent of the participants from the first two cohorts implemented aging into their programs. More specifically, the goal of this program is to engage NAFEO members in collaborative efforts to decrease health disparities in target service areas and engage NAFEO members in collaborative efforts to decrease health disparities in target service areas.
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