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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Health care
professionals have known for a long time that common diseases - heart
disease, cancer, and diabetes - and even rare diseases - like
hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia - can run in
families. If one generation of a family has high blood pressure, it is
not unusual for the next generation to have similarly high blood
pressure.
Tracing the illnesses suffered by your
parents, grandparents, and other blood relatives can help your doctor
predict the disorders to which you may be at risk and take action to
keep you and your family healthy.
To help focus attention on the importance
of family health history, U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona,
M.D., M.P.H., in cooperation with other agencies within the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a national
public health campaign, called the U.S. Surgeon General's Family
History Initiative, to encourage all American families to learn more
about their family health history.
In addition to the Office of the Surgeon
General, other HHS agencies involved in this project include the
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA).
National Family History Day
Surgeon General Carmona has declared
Thanksgiving 2004 to be the first annual National Family History Day.
Thanksgiving is the traditional start of the holiday season for most
Americans.
Whenever families gather, the Surgeon
General encourages them to talk about, and to write down, the health
problems that seem to run in their family. Learning about their
family's health history may help ensure a longer future together.
My Family Health Portrait
Americans know that family history is
important to health. A recent survey found that 96 percent of
Americans believe that knowing their family history is important. Yet,
the same survey found that only one-third of Americans have ever tried
to gather and write down their family's health history.
Because family health history is such a
powerful screening tool, the Surgeon General has created a new
computerized tool to help make it fun and easy for anyone to create a
sophisticated portrait of their family's health.
This new tool, called "My Family Health
Portrait" can be
downloaded for free and installed on your own computer.
The tool will help you organize your
family tree and help you identify common diseases that may run in your
family.
When you are finished, the tool will
create and print out a graphical representation of your family's
generations and the health disorders that may have moved from one
generation to the next. That is a powerful tool for predicting any
illnesses for which you should be checked.
www.cdc.gov
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