National Minority Health Month: Cancer is not equal

April is National Minority Health Month, a time to call attention to the serious health disparities experienced by underserved racial, ethnic and geographic communities across the U.S. Cancer affects us all, but it doesn’t affect us all the same. Take a look at a few stats that illustrate these inequalities:

Rates of new cases and deaths

• Black men are more than twice as likely as white men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
• Black and white women have similar breast cancer incidence rates, but black women are 40 percent more likely to die of the disease.
• Hispanic men and women are twice as likely as their white counterparts to be diagnosed with and die from liver cancer.
• American Indians/Alaska Natives are more likely to die from kidney cancer than other racial/ethnic groups.
• Women who live in rural areas are twice as likely to die from cervical cancer as women in urban areas.

Screening

• Spanish-speaking Hispanic individuals are less likely to be screened for colorectal cancer than English-speaking Hispanic or white individuals.
• Asian American, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Hispanic women are less likely to have had a mammogram in the past year.
• Hispanic women are less likely to be up-to-date on their cervical cancer screening than women in other racial/ethnic groups.

When these social determinants of health are compounded by low socio-economic status, access to preventive health care like cancer screenings can be difficult. A lack of reliable health care, dependable transportation or time off from work can all impact your access to health care. And when cancer isn’t detected early, it’s harder to successfully treat.

There is some good news: recent trends show some cancer disparities narrowing (for example, the cancer death rate for black Americans is declining faster than for white Americans). But we still have a long way to go—and it requires efforts on local, state and national levels to wipe out health disparities.

How can you create change? Help your community make cancer prevention a priority! Encourage neighbors, friends and family members to get screened—and offer them a ride to their appointment. A little support can go a long way in the fight against cancer.

Sources: American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute (NCI), HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH)