Put Family Health History on the Holiday Agenda

Ivy Anderson
Photo by Katrina Wittkamp/Aurora Selects

The Fourth of July is not only a time for family reunions and cookouts, it’s an opportunity for relatives to pull together their family health history.

Ivy Anderson of Chicago is learning how to do just that. Although she had been researching her family tree since 1990 and often shared the information at family reunions, she hadn’t considered tracing her own health history. At least not until her pastor encouraged the congregation to participate in the U.S. Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative.

The campaign, launched in November 2004 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to raise public awareness of the importance of knowing your family health history. Since its inception, more than 1 million people have gone online to access free software called My Family Health Portrait to help document their relatives’ health history.

“Many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, can run in families,” says Kenneth Moritsugu, M.D., former acting surgeon general. “Knowing your family health history can save your life as well as the lives of those you love.”

Anderson knows firsthand the importance of the Family History Initiative. “The reality is, we don’t talk about family health,” she says. “Diabetes runs in my family. I’m just being supportive of something I think is a good thing.”

For more information, go to www.hhs.gov/familyhistory.