We celebrate September at the Temple as “Men’s Month”. When the health status of our people comes to mind, I think of “Maafa”. Maafa, in Kiswahili means “disaster” or “terrible occurrence”. It has also been used to describe the “Black Holocaust”. The health of the black man here in America has been a disaster. Black men lead the nation in many of the chronic diseases.
We have one of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world, with D.C. being at the top of the list in the country. It is not quite clear why this is, but environmental factors including diet and access to health care may be a significant factor. When medical help is finally sought it is often too late. If diagnosed late in the process, prostate cancer has the chance to metastasize or spread to the bones or other organs. When this happens the treatment options are limited and often only palliative or care aimed at comfort is possible. No one should die from prostate cancer now days with screening available unless men continue being too proud or macho to have a digital rectal exam or “the finger” of a physician inserted in the rectum to examine the prostate for masses. This “violation” does not make you less of a man which some have concerns over. Think of the alternative, “death” or years of pain and suffering.
The rate of kidney failure is also high, with young black men with high blood pressure experiencing a four fold higher chance of developing renal failure requiring dialysis. When you go in to many of the dialysis centers in the District you see older black women and younger black men hooked up to dialysis machines. Many times the “silent killer” high blood pressure is left un-checked for years because we don’t get it treated. “If it doesn’t hurt or you can’t see it, don’t fix it”. That is the attitude that many of our brothers take when it comes to high blood pressure. Even a high normal blood pressure, <140/90, can cause damage to the blood vessels of every organ including the kidney. Many of these patients also have diabetes which is the number one cause of kidney failure with hypertension being number two.
Diabetes is also extremely high and continues to become more prevalent with the increase in obesity. Diabetes is considered a “cardiovascular risk equivalent” meaning that if you have diabetes, you have the same twenty percent, ten year risk of having a heart attack or stroke that someone with know heart disease has. Diabetes is as “serious as a heart attack” so should be treated as aggressively as possible with lowering the blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and weight.
The “terrible occurrence” or “maafa” that these diseases have caused our people are in part self-inflicted. Our own “dis-ease” with the medical community leads us away from taking care of ourselves and getting check ups. Pastor Wilson discussed in his sermon in reference to Paul that it took him getting knocked off of his ass while riding and going blind to convert and that God sends “pain” to sometimes wake us up. Don’t ignore the “pain” and become “numb” or “unconscious” to your health. If you do become “numb” to your condition, it is almost guaranteed that if you do have one of these conditions and leave it unchecked your temple will suffer. It is harder to treat than to prevent. There is no higher priority than your health so takes control of it! Make an effort to go get screened for all of these conditions this month.
