Annual Prostate Cancer Prevention Effort Begins

The percentage of men of color who are seeking prostate cancer screenings is on the rise, but there is still work to be done, officials say.

On June 7, "Working Together to Protect Prostate Health" served as a kickoff event for an annal campaign based in New Brunswick that aims to reduce the risk of cancer for men throughout central New Jersey, especially men of color.

The Rev. Eric Billips, Sr. Pastor of Mt. Zion AME Church hosted the event at the church, where physicians and members of the Annual Prostate Cancer Screening Outreach Initiative discussed the progress made since last year, the task that remains and the plan to get there.

The outreach is a joint effort of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, as well as community groups including the Puerto Rican Action Board and Mt. Zion AME Church.

According to data provided by the the American Cancer Society, in 2013 238,500 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in men in the U.S., and 7,200 of those cases will be in New Jersey.

African-American men have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world, and the disease is the second leading cause of cancer death in Latino men, according to the data.

"The difficulty is that often black men don't go to the doctor. For some reason or another there is some kind of aversion (toward) going to the doctor. And in many instances it's not just black men," Billips said. "We are committed to helping black men, but not just black men, men of all races, to make sure everyone is screened."

The free screenings will be offered from 5-8 p.m. Sept. 22-24 at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, according to Mariam Merced, Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Promotion Program.

Anyone who wishes to schedule a screening is asked to call 1-888-MD-RWJUH.