REMARKS OF CONGRESSMAN GREGORY W. MEEKS AT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PROSATE CANCER DISPARTY SUMMIT

REMARKS OF CONGRESSMAN GREGORY W. MEEKS AT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PROSATE CANCER DISPARTY SUMMIT CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS 44TH ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE WASHINGTON CONVENTION CENTER
SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Let me start by congratulating Tom Farrington, the members and affiliates of the Prostate Health Education Network, and of course all of you in attendance for coming this far by faith in your mission of raising the awareness and expanding the effort to overcome the glaring disparity in the incidence of prostate cancer among African American men.

It is remarkable that we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the first African American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit. There probably more than a few folks who thought that event would be a one-time deal and like a fad would quickly fade away as topic of interest, let alone Congressional action.

That was 2003. This is 2014 and the collaboration between the Prostate Health Education Network under Tom Farrington’s inspired and persistent leadership and the Congressional Black Caucus continues. Looking back, it is fair to say the disparity summits have contributed to the progress that is being made in broadening Disparity of the disproportionate danger prostate cancer poses for the health and longevity of African American males, and by extension, their families, friends, co-workers, employees, students congregants, neighbors, fraternity brothers, and fans of Black men who have been inflicted or taken out by this disease.

We can say without exaggeration that the annual African American Prostate Cancer Disparity summits have contributed to advancing the fight for early diagnosis and effective treatment of prostate cancer in African American males. These events, which have also become a venue for dialogue and information sharing between experts, doctors, researchers, pharmaceutical firms, community institutions, and elected officials, have made a unique and I would add an indispensable contribution to the progress that is being made to reducing the death rates among African American men due to prostate cancer.

With pride we can report that:

• PHEN and the CBC have worked together to increase awareness of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate of the disparity in the occurrence, diagnosis, and treatment of prostate cancer in African American men.

• By working with Congressional allies within and beyond the CBC, including senators and representatives who attended summit sessions or the annual luncheon, some of whom had family members or staff members who had prostate cancer or were themselves were treated for prostate cancer, the PHEN-inspired disparity awareness movement helped increase federal funding for research on this crisis.

• Every year, more and more churches, social organizations, educational institutions, fraternities and sororities within the Black community have taken up the challenge of spreading awareness about the African American prostate cancer crisis.

• Significant progress is being made. Over the past ten years, the prostate cancer death rate among African American men dropped by a spectacular 40 percent. Much of this drop is thought to be due to the growing awareness among Black men of the importance of early detection which has led to a dramatic increase in the number of Black men are taking PSA tests.

From barbershops to pulpits to radio and television talk shows to the halls of Congress, all who have been involved in the African American prostate cancer disparity awareness movement deserve a pat on the back. I say this especially about Tom Farrington and PHEN.

But I am quick to caution that we cannot rest on our laurels. Despite progress, the disparity is still with us:

• African American men continue to have the highest prostate cancer death rate compared to all men.

• Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among African-American men.

• Prostate cancer accounts for approximately 37 percent of all cancers occurring in African American men.

• An estimated 4,980 African-American men died from prostate cancer in 2013.

• In 2013, an estimated 35,430 new cases of prostate cancer in African American men were diagnosed.

Let us view the progress we have made since the first PHEN-CBC prostate cancer disparity summit as a down payment on the broader, bolder, and more bodacious efforts we must unfold. We found our bearings over the past decade. We laid the foundation for the level of advocacy we must reach — not only across the length and breadth of the Black community but also across the length and breadth of the medical community, healthcare providers, the media, the pharmaceutical industry, and especially federal, state, and local government. Americans of all backgrounds, all descents, democrats and republicans, at all levels of government and from every region of our nation must continue to come together and form deeper coalitions and stronger alliances if we are to defeat this disease.

In closing, allow me to underline the emphasis I just placed on the level of government and the body of that government in which I serve: The federal government and the United States Congress. Why? Much of the progress we have made can be attributed to enhanced federal government funding for prostate cancer research, for research on the causes of the disparity, and for public education programs that elevated awareness of men who are at high risk and their families, communities, doctors, and healthcare providers.

The bottom line is that accelerating the fight to reduce and end the African American disparity has to be better resourced. Additional research, additional outreach, additional testing, and additional treatment all require additional resources.

I support the call for the CBC to take the initiative in a campaign for enhanced federal funding with respect to increasing the appropriations for prostate cancer research within the Defense Department’s Congressional Mandated Direct Medical Research Program.

Those out there in congressional districts around the country who are survivors, who are the family and friends of the men who lost their battle against prostate cancer, and those who are concerned about the disparity, about men at high risk, about research, about funding, about early detection, about effective treatment, are the ones who can make this happen. If they organize, mobilize, educate, and advocate, if they build coalitions and alliances of concerned Americans, we will win the funding needed to accelerate this fight. And in the years ahead we will gather again and again to access our progress and to propose new tasks to save the lives of American fathers, brothers, sons, and grandfathers of African descent.

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