January 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 1
Opportunities for advocacy
Family physicians face many advocacy opportunities each day, said Wanda Filer, M.D., of York, Pa. One area of great interest nationwide continues to be women's health.
"For American women, the leading cause of death is heart disease, not breast cancer," Filer said. "The leading cause of injury to them is domestic violence. The leading cause of cancer death among women is lung cancer, not breast cancer, as commonly believed. Are we telling everyone this? We should be!"
Advocacy efforts also are needed, she said, on issues such as:
Diabetes: It affects more than 8 million women and 6 percent of the nation's total population.
New epidemics: Arthritis patients lack affordable insurance benefits and need safer and more effective treatments. Osteoporosis causes a new fracture every 20 seconds.
Mental illness: It affects one-fourth of Americans in any given year, including about 13 percent of children ages 9 17.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2002 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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