HITN Expands Health Education and Awareness Programming

NEW YORK, April 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Hispanic Information & Telecommunications Network, Inc. (HITN), President and CEO Jose Luis Rodriguez today announced a cancer awareness and education initiative in partnership with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) specifically for the Spanish-speaking community. The video vignette series will premiere on April 26 as part of HITN'S public affairs show Dialogo de Costa a Costa; and will also air as part of HITN's larger health campaign Mi Salud Primero.

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HITN Vice President of Development, Magaly Rivera said, "Arming our communities with information about risks, prevention, and treatment is our goal. This partnership will bring more awareness to our communities to prepare more families to be champions and advocates for their own health.  We are honored to add NCI's expertise to our health campaign Mi Salud Primero that offers family friendly tools for health awareness and improvement."

The broadcast partnership will bring to national, Spanish-language television, two-minute video segments called "Lifelines" to inform and educate the Hispanic community about cancer related issues.  Among the topics for the coming months are:  What to Do After a Cancer Diagnosis, Cancer Risk and Nutrition, and Clinical Trials Awareness.  In May, Skin Cancer Awareness Month, the Lifelines feature will introduce a new brochure from NCI, Anyone Can Get Skin Cancer, designed specifically for minority populations and people with dark skin.

A new Lifelines segment will be launched each month in observance of a specific cancer awareness focus, including Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (September), Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), Lung Cancer Awareness Month (November), and Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month (March).  One of NCI's most well-known Spanish-speaking doctors, Jorge Gomez, Ph.D., M.D., will serve as the expert host for all Lifelines videos. The information presented in the videos will be tailored to address how certain cancers specifically affect members of the Hispanic community.  

The NCI created Lifelines in 2008 initially for Hispanic and African American audiences. It began as a monthly newspaper series, and is still distributed to Hispanic and African American community newspapers nationwide. Select newspaper articles are now converted to two-minute videos given the immense popularity of web videos. The videos are produced by NCI and feature NCI researchers and affiliates as spokespersons to their respective ethnic communities.  Videos and other resources for Spanish speakers can be found at www.cancer.gov/espanol and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cancer.govEspanol.

The Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc. (HITN) was established in 1983 as a non-profit organization. HITN's mission is to advance Hispanics by providing engaging, educational entertainment that empowers the community to serve as an ever-growing engine of intellectual power and progress. HITN-TV is the first U.S.-owned, non-commercial, Spanish-language media company delivering educational programming to more than 36 million homes nationwide on Satellite and Cable focusing on Health, Financial Literacy, and Education. HITN is also the largest holder of Educational Broadband Spectrum (EBS) in the US, supporting the next generation of wireless broadband networks and creating new opportunities to deliver educational content and connect communities. Visit us online at http://www.hitn.tv.

SOURCE Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc.