Central Mississippi Steel Magnolias Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Legislators, Health Officials, Breast Cancer Survivors and Activists Call for Action on Bre...( Mississippi Joins Nationwide Campaign...),Health

Mississippi Joins Nationwide Campaign Challenging U.S. to Close the Gaps in

Breast Cancer Care, Survival

JACKSON, Miss., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, Nov. 13, the Central Mississippi Steel Magnolias Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure will host a public forum to launch the state's participation in the Komen Community Challenge. The Mississippi Community Challenge events mark the fifteenth stop of a 25-city campaign to elevate breast cancer on the national agenda and to draw attention to disparities in breast cancer mortality.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070122/NYM084LOGO)

Health care providers, advocates, breast cancer survivors and elected officials will gather at the UMC Conference Center to discuss how to close the gaps in research, public policy and access to quality care that make breast cancer deadlier for some women. In addition, a powerful Komen video documentary, I Don't Want To Know, featuring Madison County patients and doctors who movingly illustrate the barriers to care facing too many Mississippi women, will be aired.

Nationwide, one in eight women will get breast cancer in her lifetime. Many Americans -- racial and ethnic minorities, low income women and those with little or no health insurance -- are less likely to receive quality cancer care and are more likely to die from the disease. Mississippi has the 3rd highest breast cancer mortality rate in the nation. More than 1,600 Mississippi women are diagnosed every year, and 450 will die from the disease.

WHAT: "Close The Gap" Public Forum on Breast Cancer

WHO: Paul Ott, Forum Moderator, Talk Show Host-Listen to the Eagle, &

breast cancer survivor

Senator Alan Nunnelee, Tupelo, Chair of Public Health & Welfare

Committee

Representative John Hines, Greenville, Member
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