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Health advocates who attended a recent Asian American health conference in Warrensville Heights, Ohio, urged the health care community to increase cultural competency among providers to improve care for the region's Asian-American patients, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. Experts noted that Asian Americans are disproportionately affected by cervical and liver cancers because of inadequate preventive care. They called for increasing hepatitis B vaccination rates, to reduce the disease that is the primary cause of liver cancer. To reduce such disparities, experts urged health officials to establish a statewide coalition of Asian-American health advocates, improve data collection on Asian patients and improve cultural competency training for physicians and other health care workers so they can "adapt to the cultural demographics of their communities." A nursing professor at Columbus-based Capital University said that cultural competency is the "first step" in eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities and urged health care providers to discuss cultural traditions with patients, such as the use of Chinese herbs in healing. She added that adequate interpretation services are a "critical" element in improving care for Asian-American patients and called for the expansion of certified Asian-language interpreters
Suh, Akron Beacon Journal, 11/26/05
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