HR 9175 2003
1	House Resolution
2	A resolution recognizing April 20-26, 2003, as "Cancer
3	Minority Awareness Week" in Florida.
4
5	WHEREAS, although notable progress has been made in the
6	fight against cancer in recent years, many Floridians continue
7	to experience unequal rates of cancer incidence and mortality,
8	including the elderly, African Americans, Hispanics, Latinos,
9	and the medically uninsured, many of whom are medically
10	underserved individuals with inadequate access to adequate
11	cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and rehabilitation
12	services, and
13	WHEREAS, given the current population trends, the United
14	States Bureau of the Census projects that Florida will become
15	home to the highest percentage of elders in the nation, a group
16	that experiences 60 percent of all cancers and 69 percent of
17	cancer-related deaths, and
18	WHEREAS, African Americans, at 15.2 percent the largest
19	minority population in the state, are 33 percent more likely
20	than Caucasians and twice as likely than Hispanics and Latinos
21	to die of cancer, and
22	WHEREAS, the fastest growing segment of the nation’s
23	population, Hispanics and Latinos, most of whom face barriers to
24	health care access through a lack of health insurance coverage
25	and cultural and language differences, are expected by the year
26	2005 to become the largest minority population in Florida, and
27	WHEREAS, 15.2 percent of Floridians live below the national
28	poverty level, a condition frequently associated with a lack of
29	access to adequate health care, including cancer screening,
30	detection, and treatment services, and
31	WHEREAS, observed nationally for 17 years, Minority Cancer
32	Awareness Week is sponsored by the Biennial Symposium on
33	Minorities and the Medically Underserved in an effort to reduce
34	ethnic and racial cancer disparities through such strategies as
35	those promoted by the American Cancer Society, NOW, THEREFORE,
36	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
37	Florida:
38
39	That the House of Representatives recognizes April 20-26,
40	2003, as "Cancer Minority Awareness Week" in Florida and urges
41	all citizens to work together in an effort to increase awareness
42	of and to end the disparities minority populations face in the
43	fight against cancer.