The 4th Annual Conference on Healthcare Disparities

The 4th Annual Conference on Healthcare Disparities is coming to Philadelphia next week. The conference will run from November 10-13, 2010. The conference this year will "focus on social determinants that can have significant impact on healthcare, as a strategy for reducing health disparities." How do we create healthy communities?

According to Dr. David Rivers, “Any sincere effort to eliminate health disparities has to recognize that where people live impacts the quality of their health. “If, for example, you live near a chemical producing plant, if you live near a landfill, those things can have an impact on your health.”

About the Fourth Annual Conference on Health Disparities:
The Fourth National Conference on Health Disparities has been organized in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust and the Tri-Caucus Health Taskforce chairs.

The event is being supported by the Medical University of South Carolina, Morehouse School of Medicine, Lincoln University, Cheyney University, Drexel University School of Public Health, Temple University and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.

Co-Supporters include: PhRMA, the Alliance for Digital Equality, the U.S. Department of Energy, Fox Chase Cancer Center and AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies.

For additional information visit the conference website http://www.buildinghealthycommunities2010.com

Are You Sceptical about What Causes or Prevents Cancer

According to the BBC News, people in the UK are "deeply sceptical about scientific claims for what causes or prevents cancer." Hmm, let's see exactly what this poll tried to uncover.

Here's the first snippet: "The YouGov survey of 2,400 people for the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) found more than half thought scientists were always changing their minds."

I admit that we as medical scientists and researchers have made some mistakes in the past. At one time, we physicians made claims about the healthy effects of cigarette smoking. Either we were all being bribed by the tobacco industry or we really had an erroneous knowledge of the carcinogenic effects of smoking. Now, we all know that smoking causes lung cancer. The scientific evidence is very compelling and I doubt that anyone would argue that point.

How about red meat and colon cancer? That seems to be another point where some scientists are going back and forth (regarding whether we have enough evidence to substantiate that eating red meat does or does not increase the risk of colon cancer).

Here's another snippet from the article: "The WCRF says that most scientists agree about the steps people can take to reduce their risk of cancer - and that this advice has largely stayed the same for the last 10 years." The basics have not changed. We should eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. I don't think any scientist will argue that the evidence has changed on these aspects of healthy living.