Communicating Across Boundaries: Breast and Cervical Cancer Project NAWHO created the Asian American Women’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Project in 1995 as an innovative and unique program that would address breast and cervical cancers and Asian American women at the community, medical, and public policy level. NAWHO’s multifaceted campaign employed skills-building and public education to increase breast and cervical cancers awareness and screening rates in Asian American communities. The initiative also sought to improve health care providers’ responsiveness to the needs of Asian American women by enhancing their cultural competency. Through its national breast and cervical cancers awareness campaign, NAWHO tapped mass media, the Internet, and internal program newsletters to reach more than a million Asian American community members with important information about cancer prevention. NAWHO also partnered with community-based organizations in California and Virginia to host two community health education forums to raise awareness about cervical cancer. These forums attracted 200 Vietnamese and Japanese American women. NAWHO’s signature product under this program is a cultural competency training curriculum for health care professionals, which has trained 1139 health care providers and administrators in eight states. Additionally, NAWHO convened the Breast and Cervical Cancer Cultural Competency Trainers Institute—a comprehensive train-the-trainer program designed to build a national pool of trainers specializing in Asian American women’s health needs, breast and cervical cancers and cultural competency issues. The Institute trained 62 community advocates from 25 states. |