In delivering the keynote address at the Cancer Awareness Forum, Conference President Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb launched the Mayors’ Coalition for Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education and marked a milestone. With the formation of the Coalition, which already has 47 members, The Conference of Mayors Health Programs adds a parallel initiative to its successful three and a half-year Mayors’ Campaign Against Breast Cancer.

Mayor Webb took this step because prostate cancer is a public health issue that can touch men of all ages and backgrounds. Noting that prostate cancer is more devastating than the polio epidemic in its worst year, he cited the following statistics:

He also talked about his own experience as a prostate cancer survivor, comparing his early detection, successful surgery, and effective follow-up with the experience of a colleague who elected to handle his prostate cancer through an unsuccessful self-prescribed regimen. This difference in outcome for his friend as well as the deaths of others to whom Mayor Webb was close led him to become an advocate for prostate cancer awareness and education.

Mayor Webb went on to dispel the myth that prostate cancer is an older man’s disease, pointing out that one in four prostate cancer cases strikes a man under 65 and the number of men battling prostate cancer in their forties and fifties is increasing.

He also spoke of the special risk for African American men who have the highest prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates in the world. They are 35 percent to 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed than Caucasian men and are twice as likely to die of the disease.

Given his concerns and the stark statistics surrounding prostate cancer, he serves as Co-Chairman of the Prostate Cancer Global Awareness Campaign of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, one of the largest and oldest African-American organizations. Kappa and the Conference will work closely together on activities relating to the Mayors’ Coalition for Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education – with a focus on informed decision-making and reaching the underserved.

Beaumont Mayor David W. Moore, the forum moderator, noted that in promoting prostate cancer awareness among the underserved the Coalition is supporting a Conference priority and a principle that guides the work of the Conference of Mayors Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee, which he chairs. He also underscored the need for mayors to work through the media to reach the underserved and to raise awareness, an approach he took in his city over Father’s Day to promote prostate cancer screening.

Hempstead Mayor James A. Garner, former chair of the HHS Committee, explained how the Mayors’ Campaign Against Breast Cancer laid the groundwork for the Mayors’ Coalition for Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education. Using himself as an example, he said that when the breast cancer campaign was proposed he wondered what it had to do with his city’s agenda. Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf, a breast cancer survivor, told him "Plenty, because Long Island has a very high incidence of breast cancer." He went home, did some research, found that Mayor Oberndorf was right, became an organizer of the Mayors’ Campaign Against Breast Cancer, and started addressing prostate cancer as well through the HHS Committee.

In reporting on the Mayors’ Campaign Against Breast Cancer, Mayor Oberndorf told forum participants that breast cancer awareness has risen in the Conference to the point that almost 300 mayors are now members of this initiative. Supported by a cooperative agreement between the Conference and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mayor Oberndorf noted that the Campaign’s objective is to encourage women to seek CDC-supported mammography – with a focus on outreach to women who are low-income, over fifty years old, and racial and ethnic minorities.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Vice Chair of the HHS Committee, started the open forum discussion by describing how his Crusade Against Cancer is including prevention of skin cancer in children’s day camps this summer. He also described the Crusade’s cancer awareness brochure that was sent to all Boston households and is available in several languages. Mayor Menino went on to talk about a challenge in Boston that exists across the country, how to encourage undocumented workers to take advantage of cancer screening and other health services that they tend to avoid due to fear of deportation.

Other mayors speaking during the open forum were Timothy T. Seider, Greenfield (WI); Lee Clancey, Cedar Rapids; Dannel P. Malloy, Stamford; Jeff Griffin, Reno; Beverly O’Neill, Long Beach; Nancy Watkins, Haltom City; and Jean Harris, M.D., Eden Prairie (MN). Following are some significant points raised during this session.

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP generously sponsored the forum’s luncheon, with the company’s representative Mary Lynn Carver, Director of Oncology Public Affairs, commending the mayors for their commitment to cancer awareness.

Other persons speaking during the forum were: Karen Richard, Public Health Advisor, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, CDC; Zora Kramer Brown, Chair, Breast Cancer Resources Committee; and Richard N. Atkins, M.D., Vice Chair, National Prostate Cancer Coalition. All remarked on how effectively the mayors can promote cancer awareness through their unique leadership positions in their communities.

The Honorable Rodney E. Slater, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, dropped by the forum to let the mayors know how much the Administration appreciates their efforts to improve the quality of city life, citing the U.S. Conference of Mayors Cancer Awareness Program as a prime example.

Return to Previous Page.