U.S. launches initiative to improve cancer outcomes in low-income areas

LOS ANGELES, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. administration launched a new initiative on Monday to alleviate the cumulative effects of persistent poverty on cancer outcomes.

The 50-million-U.S.-dollar initiative, called the Persistent Poverty Initiative, aims to improve cancer outcomes by building research capacity, fostering cancer prevention research, and promoting the implementation of community-based programs in low-income areas.

The Persistent Poverty Initiative is the first major program to address the structural and institutional factors of persistent poverty in the context of cancer, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

"Persistent poverty is a place-based and community phenomenon that reflects a failure of the structures and institutions in society, including health care," said Shobha Srinivasan, senior advisor for health disparities and health equity in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

"Conducting research to understand the connections between institutions - such as social, economic, and health systems - and persistent poverty is the only way to inform changes to social conditions and determinants of health that will ultimately improve overall health, cancer control, and cancer outcomes," Srinivasan said.