Fight Cancer Disparity: Empower Women of Color and Save lives
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Sponsor: The Breast Cancer Site
Women of color are disproportionately affected by breast cancer, partially due to lack of information and resources.
African Americans and other minority groups are often worse off than white people when it comes to the incidence and prognosis of chronic diseases, many of which are preventable and treatable. Breast cancer, specifically, is very treatable in its early stages, but many people of color are not taught about their breast health or given proper access to affordable mammograms, so they fail to get screened early.
Compared to white women, African American women are more likely to develop breast cancer at a younger age1, more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive triple-negative cancer, more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, and less likely to have a positive outcome such as survival or short recovery times2. Black women in the U.S. are also 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white people.1.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among black women1. Sometimes uncontrollable factors such as genetics are to blame for the incidence of cancer or the rate of survival within a particular group, but, all too often, more controllable variables are to blame.
Women of color generally have less access to health insurance and high-quality healthcare3, and they tend to be less informed about breast health topics, such as the importance of self-exams and regular mammograms4. They’re less likely to get screened early because of these factors and more likely to be diagnosed late, which sometimes leads to a worse prognosis. They’re also less likely to be properly treated for conditions such as insulin resistance, which may promote tumor growth5.
We cannot control all of the things that go into the diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer for women of color, but we can improve the level of breast health information women of color are given, as well as suggesting screening earlier and providing affordable mammograms.
It’s time to empower women of color to keep themselves healthy and save their own lives. To do this, we must provide more breast health information, mammograms, and other early screening resources to people of color in order to help them catch cancer early and have the best possible outcomes.