State unveils new cancer plan
The Hawaii Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition unveiled the 2016-2020 Hawaii State Cancer Plan on Wednesday at its summit at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.
The plan presents a vision and a list of actions designed to reduce cancer in the Aloha State.
Cancer remains the second-leading cause of death in Hawaii.
“Improving screening and treatment is necessary to address the disparities that exist with men and minority populations,” said Dr. Virginia Pressler, director of the state Department of Health.
Men and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders are more likely to die from the disease than women and other ethnicities, as the plan points out, because these groups are less likely to be regularly screened for cancer.
Men in Hawaii are 1.5 times more likely to die from cancer than women, due in part to lower screening rates.
From 2000 and 2014, men had 3,481 more cancer deaths than women, according to the DOH. While screening rates have improved over the last decade for both sexes, men are less likely to survive diagnosis, which indicates that they were not diagnosed early enough to prevent death.
In 2014, 9,200 more women than men were diagnosed with some type of cancer in Hawaii.
6 responses to “State unveils new cancer plan”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
When it comes to self-care, men are not that smart. They have a pain or discomfort, and just waits to see if it will go away. They think that’s what is manly. They don’t listen to their body. And then they lose their prostate, or worse.
IRT AwaHana, both of my cancers, one in remission (7 years ago) and one being treated for a year with radiation and chemo did not cause me any physical change or pain. It was early and timely testing and evaluation. And, of course, it’s nothing to do with being “Manly”.
So exactly how will we get care when hmsa is denying so many things?
IRT LocalCitizen, is it HMSA or is it Obamacare? Think about it.
Both. HSMA’s monopoly in Hawaii allows them to rip off the public and pay their execs huge salaries, then Obamacare, which should have focused ONLY on the at risk groups tha needed health insurance, instead jacked health costs for everyone; HMSA went along for the ride to jack their premiums so that all of the extra Obamacare associated costs were all passed on to the public.
Trump can make big improvemts by allowing established, well run national health insurance companies, with a good track record for customer service to sign up members across all State including Hawaii, thereby bypassing HSMA in Hawaii. Many, many years ago, UH offered a mainland health insurance company for UH students that was low cost and the companymmade reimbursements in a reasonable time. Of course it works best for people who are generally healthy. Much older people or those with pre-existing conditions definitley need to be specially handled and that is where Obamacare needs to focus their efforts; NOT for everyone else. Also the feds under Trump should also have their own independent panels overseeing States or mutli States to help with determintion of whether tests and drugs should be covered, unlike HMSA having their own panels that is biased to HSMA to pinch pennies at all costs. The feds under Trump can also negotiate with all drug companies to mak sure theymdo not rip off the public as what was done for the life saving Epi pen for people with asthma or other type illnesses. Also Trump can get his head of Medicaid /Medicare to really crack down on waste, fraud and abuse that is rampant against doctors, hospitals and stores that sell drugs.