Web resource makes available credible cancer information in 11 languages

The nation's first centralized Web-based resource
for credible cancer information materials in Asian and Pacific Islander
languages drew 18,523 viewers in its first six months, according to a
progress report presented Monday at the 11th World Congress on Internet in
Medicine in Toronto. The traffic is significant for a site that helps
health-care providers access authoritative cancer information in such
languages as Chinese, Hmong and Tongan.

The Asian Pacific Islander Cancer Education Materials Web portal was
launched March 24 as a joint project of the Asian American Network for
Cancer Awareness Research and Training, based at UC Davis Cancer Center,
and the American Cancer Society. The project is funded by the National
Cancer Institute.

"This confirms the urgent need for authoritative cancer education materials
for lay audiences in Asian and Pacific Islander languages," said Moon S.
Chen, Jr., principal investigator of AANCART and associate director for
cancer disparities and research at UC Davis Cancer Center. "Education and
awareness are critical if we are going to reduce the unique, unusual and
unnecessary cancer burden faced by Asian Americans."

The APICEM Web portal, located at www.aancart.org/apicem and
www.cancer.org/apicem, is a one-stop source for easy retrieval of
authoritative cancer education materials designed for lay audiences. It
offers health-care providers a tool to search for pre-screened cancer
information by specific Asian or Pacific Islander language, by cancer site
or by cancer topic. Materials do not actually reside on the APICEM site but
on the respective Web pages of contributing organizations. All materials
catalogued on the site have undergone expert review for medical accuracy,
linguistic appropriateness and cultural relevance.

The APICEM Web portal provides links to print materials written in the
following languages: Khmer, Chamorro, Chinese, Hawaiian, Hmong, Ilokano,
Korean, Samoan, Tagalog, Tongan and Vietnamese, as well as English-language
materials culturally tailored for native Hawaiian populations. More
languages and materials will be added as the site matures.

In the first six months, visitors accessed thousands of pages of cancer
information materials. Titles include "The ABC's of Hepatitis," a two-page
fact sheet in Thai on how to prevent chronic liver disease and liver
cancer, and "A Beautiful Future: A Calendar for a Happy and Healthy Life,"
in Vietnamese, containing a schedule of recommended cancer screening exams
for adults.

More than 12 organizations developed the materials, including: the American
Cancer Society; the California Department of Health Services; the San
Francisco-based Chinese Community Health Plan; the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center and University of Washington in Seattle; the Hmong Women's
Heritage Association in Sacramento; UCLA; and the Vietnamese Community
Health Promotion Project at UC San Francisco.

In addition, four National Cancer Institute-funded Community Networks
Programs contributed content or provided support for the Web portal: 'Imi
Hale, the Native Hawaiian Cancer Network in Honolulu; the Asian Community
Cancer Network at Temple University in Philadelphia; the American Samoa
Community Cancer Network at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Tropical Medical
Center in Pago Pago; and the Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer
Awareness, Research and Training at California State University, Fullerton.

UC Davis Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer
center that cares for 9,000 adults and children with cancer each year from
throughout the Central Valley and inland Northern California. Its Outreach
Research and Education Program works to eliminate ethnic disparities in
cancer region-wide.