Filipinos: Don't Be Another Cancer Statistic

Summer months in California usually mean "fiesta time" for Filipino- Americans. Festivals celebrating the Filipino-American culture and heritage are often held in public parks nationwide at this time. I went to such an event two weeks ago at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. Besides the usual booths that hawk everything from bbq anything to T-shirts that proudly scream "Pinoy", this particular fair also boasts of a "health pavillion." The "pavillion" was unfortunately propped on the top floor of a building at the margins of the the fair grounds itself so it was sadly overlooked. Nonetheless, it is encouraging to note that a serious effort is afoot to pay more attention to the health affairs of the Filipino-Americans.


A health booth focusing on cancer among the Asian-American population caught my eye for its noticeably ethnically-targeted literature. The Filipino Cancer Education Resource Catalog was particularly impressive in its valinat attempt to put together an information packet that directs Filipino health consumers to specific resources for various kinds of cancer. The pamphlet is written in both English and Tagalog and a product of a collaboration between the Filipino Community Cancer Collaborative and institutions such as the American Cancer Society, UCSF and various Asian and Pacific Islanders health organizations among others.


Such interest in cancer in Asian-Americans made me think of the threat of this disease to this population. While the available information on the burden of cancer in Asian-American population is hardly exhaustive, the literature is promisingly growing. I posted several articles on this blog that I think shed a much-needed light on the status of cancer among this ethnic group.

According to the American Cancer Society, Asian-Americans are the only group for which deaths from cancer exceeded that of deaths from heart disease. Cancer is the leading cause of death for female Asian-Americans since 1980. Plaguing these women's health are cervical and breast cancers - mostly attributed to lack of preventive care and late detection of the disease. Clearly, information about and access to information, services and support is a very serious issue for this group.

Filipinos ranked the poorest in surviving colon and rectal cancers of all the US ethnic groups, perhaps due to late detection of the disease as well. Likewise, Filipinos have more cases of and deaths from prostate cancer compared with other Asians. While the reason for this is not immediately known, high-saturated diet and obesity had been named as likely culprits. Westernized diets and obesity are also implicated in the cases of and deaths from breast cancer among Filipino women which surpassed all other Asian ethnic groups. Educating Filipinos about theirs risks to get cancer is incredibly crucial to stem the alarming upward trend of incidence and mortality rates for specific cancers. Awareness of the risks should convince Filipinos to seek preventive services and to adopt preventive health behavior. After all, when it comes to cancer (and true for other diseases as well) early detection could prevent early death.