Hepatitis and Liver Cancer in African Americans: Two Concerns and Two Solutions .pdf [244kb]

African Americans and Hispanics are at higher risk of getting hepatitis C and liver cancer than Caucasians. Liver cancer usually occurs after scarring (cirrhosis) resulting from alcoholism and/or hepatitis B infection. Hepatitis C can often leads to liver cancer without causing cirrhosis.

Hepatitis and Liver Cancer in African Americans cover

NBCI Encourages Your Participation in Clinical Trials

African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Indians, Asian Americans, and women, had generally not been part of drug clinical trials.

Studies show sometimes drugs work differently in African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Indians, Asian Americans, and women. It is important to make sure we get the best results in all people.

Read on the Clinical Trials Page

You've Got the Power! Clinical Trials Fact Sheet

Download the Latest NBCI Health-at a-Glance .pdf [617kb]
Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer of the plasma cells. This disease can lead to bone problems including pain, fractures and spinal cord compression, when cancer cells wear away the bone.

Multiple Myeloma Health Note cover

Links to Minority Health Resources

NBCI Search

NBCI Corporate Capability Statement

NBCI has the capability of reaching African American and Latino target populations with health literature and information anywhere in the United States where there are black churches.
NBCI Corporate Capability Statement

Health Emergency Declaration (HED) Kick-off

IMG_8671_001.jpg

The press conference was held March 28, 2010 at the Israel Baptist Church, Baltimore, MD, kicking off a seven year commitment to healthier lifestyles for all African Americans through education, pre-screening, improved diet, physical exercise, and clinical trials

Baltimore represents the first HED health community, one of 35 such communities across the country.

Continue to the HED Kick-off page >>

Visit the NBCI HIV/AIDS
Initiative Page

The church must work
with health experts to
come up with plans to stop
AIDS in all segments
of the African
American
community

Visit the NBCI Autism
Awareness Page

Our health emergency
Declaration in recognition
of the significance of
Autism Spectrum
Disorders in the African
American Community

NBCI Announces the
Kick-Off of an
Innovative COPD
Education Program

The Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables: A Scientific Overview The research behind eating more fruits and vegetables
The Black Church and the Importance of Good Nutrition
What the black church needs to
say to its congregations
about good nutrition.
How Science-based and Community-based
Organizations May
Work with the
Black Church

Producing Effective
Health Promotion
and Policy Initiatives
Health Emergency Declaration (HED)

National Black Church Initiative Affordable Care Act Institute (NBCIACAI)

NBCIACAI CoverThe purpose of the National Black Church Initiative's Affordable Care Act Institute (NBCIACA I) is to track the health statistics of all eligible Black and Latino citizens who are, and who are not yet, enrolled into the ACA program nationwide.

We hope to create a continuous comparative analysis of the uninsured, those eligible for coverage under the ACA, those who are ineligible, those who are enrolled and those who are not and why. The overall purpose is to highlight any and all obstacles to care – both under the old health care model and under ACA.

There are so many competing forces, each with a narrow agenda and singular goal in mind. NBCIACAI plans to cut through these agendas and deliver real facts on care delivery to minority communities across the country, NBCIACAI falls under NBCI's Health Emergency Declaration Program (HED).

We plan to develop best practices and share our analysis with affinity organizations and the entire health community, with the ultimate goal of eliminating health disparities.

Black Church Health Consumer Index Survey Project (BCHCIS)

The National Black Church Initiative’s (NBCI) Black Church Health Consumer Index Survey (BCHCIS) is an innovative tool to track and analyze up-to-date data covering our membership’s interactions with the health care system. BCHCIS enables NBCI to better understand the behaviors and patterns corresponding to a wide array of issues across our 34,000 churches and 15.7 million members.

The Black church’s demographics span the entirety of the Black community – across age, ethnicity, geography, sex, gender, political persuasions and the like. Our surveys, dating back to the late 1990s, make NBCI a leader in African American consumer information and analytics.

Our methodology is simple and culturally relevant – we use five focused and pointed questions to get at the heart of how our congregants perceive and use the health care system. PhD students help us analyze responses in way that allows NBCI to understand disparities that exist between mainstream America and minority communities. Additional queries that arise from our initial surveys are addressed through additional questions that clarify data analyses.

NBCI is excited about BCHCIS’ potential, especially its ability to help the health care industry understand the nuances of African American patients and researchers. BCHCIS will provide the health care community with new and improved statistical data for educational and marketing purposes.

BCHCIS hopes to impact two promising areas: 1) African American participation in clinical trials; and 2) Unlocking questions about African American drug therapy compliance. These are two critical areas that dramatically impact African American health outcomes.

The success of BCHCIS lies squarely in the ethical teachings of their faith leaders. NBCI through BCHCIS has broken through miscommunication and mistrust barriers affecting the African Americans vis-à-vis the health care and health research industries. Many researchers seek to find answers to health problems plaguing minority communities only to run into mistrust and a lack of communications. BCHCIS will address this foundational mistrust and help reveal answers on how to overcome major psychological barriers that had, and are still having, devastating effects on African American population health.

NBCI 60-Question Health Survey

Credible, reliable and up-to-date demographic information on African American population health is virtually nonexistent in the United States. NBCI is turning the tide on this crisis by instituting a 60 question health survey to be administered through our 34,000 churches and 15.7 million members. These questions were based upon frequently asked questions concerning black health by scholars, researchers, marketers and the corporate community.

However, two compelling issues keep this survey from being administered. First is the issue of credibility. NBCI is not a research organization. It is a faith-based organization. Many in the scientific and research community will question the purpose and research validity of such an expansive health questionnaire. In response, NBCI has recruited 60 leading African American organizations in administering our health survey. We are now in the process of working out the protocol for administering such an expansive statistical survey. We do believe that the questions raised earlier on the issue of qualification and credibility will inevitably be raised again for whatever reasons those in the scientific and research community deems as scholarly necessary.

Second, NBCI faces issues of cost and the ability to attract corporate health sponsors. NBCI is taking a comprehensive look at this initiative and hopes to redesign it in such a manner that would help dispel the issues surrounding qualifications and credibility by recruiting a nationally known partner that is recognized in the health research field. We also hope to expand and attract key corporate and academic sponsors to provide the necessary resources to build a stronger national committee of stakeholders.
How NBCI is Organized

NBCI Faith Communities Demographics and Statistical Composition


NBCI has created a statistical analysis of its churches, locations and demographics

The South East Faith Command
The West Faith Command
The Mid-West Faith Command
South West Faith Command
Western Faith Command  
16,830 Churches
8,502 Churches
3,047 Churches
3,265 Churches
2,356 Churches
 

THE NATIONAL BLACK CHURCH INITIATIVE DEMOGRAPHIC AND STATISTICAL COMPOSITION


Faith Command No. of Churches Age Range Gender % Race %

SOUTHEAST FAITH COMMAND
Atlanta, GA

A
    Male Female Black Hispanic
Florida
Tallahassee
Miami
West Palm Beach
Fort Lauderdale
268
280
12
58
30-75
42-80
34-80
45-80
36%
35
39
35
64%
65
61
65
100
100
100
100
 
Georgia
Atlanta
Savannah

B


2,560
99
28-85
39-85
45
34
55
66
100
100
 
Louisiana
Baton Rouge
New Orleans


600
356
45-85
46-85
34
35
66
65
100
100
 
Alabama
Birmingham
Montgomery


C
780
656
28-85
32-85
45
45
55
55
100
100
 
Arkansas
Little Rock


86 35-85 40 60 100  
Tennessee
Memphis
Nashville
Chattanooga

D
860
906
458
28-85
28-85
28-85
45
45
45
55
55
55
100
100
100
 
Kentucky
Louisville
Lexington


362
198
35-85
35-85 
38
38
62
62
100
100
 
Mississippi
Jackson

E

1,807 24-85 41 59 100  
North Carolina
Charlotte
Winston-Salem
Raleigh
Durham
Greensboro


450
346
462
241
250
25-85
25-85
25-85
25-85
25-85
45
45
45
45
45
55
55
55
55
55 
100
100
100
100
100
 
South Carolina
Columbia
Charleston

F

Washington, DC



838
682 



1,609
29-85
29-85



45-85
40
40



40
60
60



60
100
100



100
 
Virginia
Richmond
Northern-Virginia


NORTHEAST FAITH COMMAND
New York
A


606
1,000
65-85
35-85
45
33
55
67
100
100
 

16,830
New York
New York City
Albany


2,680
156
47-85
38-85
32
50
68
50
99
100
1
New Jersey
Newark
Trenton

B


680
692
45-85
45-85
31
31
69
69
100
100
 
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh

C

1,001
500
38-85
43-85
35
35
65
65
100
100
 
Maryland
Baltimore
Prince George's County

D


1,008
985
28-85
28-85
45
45
55
55
100
100
 
Massachusetts
Boston


400 47-85 32 68 100  
Connecticut
Hartford
New Haven

MIDWEST FAITH COMMAND
Chicago

A



200
200
38-85
38-85
38
38
62
62
100
100
 

8,502
Ohio
Columbus
Cleveland
Dayton
Cincinnati

B
162
289
316
186
47-85
47-85
47-85
47-85
32
32
32
32

 

68
68
68
68
100
100
100
100
 
Illinois
Chicago

C

800 27-85 40 60 100  
Kansas
Kansas City
Topeka


89
69
38-85
38-85
38
38
62
62
100
100
 
Wisconsin
Milwaukee

D


58 38-85 38 62 100  
Michigan
Detroit

E


969 38-85 38 62 100  
Indiana
Indianapolis


SOUTHWEST FAITH COMMAND
Dallas

A


109 38-85 38 62 100  
3,047
Texas
Dallas
Houston

B

Fort Worth
San Antonio


WEST FAITH COMMAND
Oakland

A


956
1,206



603
500
26-85
26-85



26-85
26-85
48
48



48
48
52
52



52
52
96
96



98
95
4
4



2
5







3,265 
California
Oakland
Los Angeles
San Francisco


1,356
700
300
41-85
41-85
48-85
33
33
32
67
67
68
100
94
94

6
6



2,356








34,000