NIDDK Encourages Health Talk at Family Reunions

Health issues are family issues, which is why family reunions present the perfect opportunity to bring them up, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

To raise awareness and promote family discussion among African Americans about kidney disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure— three conditions that disproportionately affect them—the NIDDK’s National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP) has created a new resource guide.

This free resource suggests ways to begin health discussions with family members and includes fact sheets and information about how to create a family health history with the Surgeon General’s online tool, “My Family Health Portrait,” www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/download.html.

Go to www.nkdep.nih.gov/familyreunion for more information and a free copy this resource.

NIH Publication No. 07–4531
November 2006