Health &
Stars Raise Awareness About Prostate Cancer During
National Minority Health Month
The Prostate Cancer Foundation
(PCF) today announced the kick-off of
its new national “Know the Numbers”
campaign to raise awareness about
how prostate cancer disproportionate-
ly affects African American men, who
are 76 percent more likely to be diag-
nosed than men of other ethnicities,
2.2 times more likely to die of the dis-
ease and are 23% more likely to pres-
ent with advanced/metastatic disease.
The campaign, themed “Know the
Numbers,” encourages men and their
families to understand their risks and
to take proactive measures to protect
their health.
“I am honored to serve as an ambas-
sador for the Prostate Cancer Founda-
tion and to use my platform to raise
awareness about this insidious disease
which has affected so many people
close to me,” said actor Harry Lennix.
“In honor of those I have lost, I am en-
couraging all men, including African
Americans who are at heightened risk,
to take the time to familiarize them-
selves with this disease and to take
steps to reduce their risk for develop-
ing prostate cancer or to catch it early
enough to survive it.”
Despite recent reports of declining
mortality rates for African American
men, they remain the hardest hit by
prostate cancer, with nearly 20 per-
cent still being affected, and suffer
the highest mortality rate from the
disease of any racial or ethnic group
in the United States. There remains a
need to build public awareness about
prostate cancer and to provide easy ac-
cess to critical information, including
screening guidelines, prevention and
new targeted treatments. Equally im-
portant is destigmatizing the disease
through open, honest dialogue, such
as this discussion featuring former mi-
nority leader of the Georgia House of
Representatives, Stacey Abrams, and
her father, which will lead to more men
becoming proactive about their health.
“Currently, there is focus and large
commitment in place to understand
why the disparities that affect African
American men with prostate cancer
exist, and we are finally seeing some
progress. But this is not the time to
take the foot off the gas; this is the
time to accelerate,” said Christine N.
Jones, Chief Operating Officer, PCF.
“We have a two-pronged approach
to address this issue – education and
awareness – which we know is saving
lives on the front end, and investment
in science, so we can better understand
what is going on so precision treat-
ments can be developed.”
National Minority Health Month
Campaign Highlights
Actor Harry Lennix, who currently co-
stars on the NBC drama “The Black-
list,” is the face of PCF’s 2019 “Know
the Numbers” campaign, which en-
courages men to understand their
personal risks for prostate cancer, take
charge of their health and save lives
by breaking down barriers and talk-
ing about the disease. The PCF’s new
PSA featuring Lennix can be viewed at
www.pcf.org/knowthenumbers.
The PCF’s new “PROSTATE CAN-
CER: Additional Facts for African
American Men and Their Families” is
available for free download at www.
pcf.org. The new guide provides ac-
tionable information about what men
can do to prevent prostate cancer as
well as information about risks and
screening guidelines specifically for
African Americans. The guide features
comments from Chris Tucker, Brian
Custer, “Uncle” Charlie Wilson and
Snoop Dogg. Also available for free
download is a comprehensive Prostate
Cancer Patient Guide.
The PCF currently has more than $10
million invested in research focused
on prostate cancer in African Ameri-
can men. Teams across the U.S. are
investigating a range of topics such
as environmental factors to targeted
therapies and genomics. Commenc-
ing this month is recruitment for the
RESPOND study, which represents a
$1 million PCF investment and is the
largest study of its kind aimed at iden-
tifying the environmental and genetic
factors related to disproportionately
high diagnoses of aggressive prostate
cancer in African American men. The
study aims to recruit 10,000 partici-
pants over a three-year period to gen-
erate key biological and non-biological
information that will help researchers
reduce the rate of aggressive prostate
cancer in this population. Find out
more at www.pcf.org/RESPOND.
Randy Jackson, Chris Tucker, Rev.
Rosey Grier and others will be featured
in month-long social media campaigns
designed to reach men to encourage
them to “Know the Numbers.”