WASHINGTON (7News) — According to the American Cancer Society, black people have the highest death rates and shortest survival rates for most types of cancer compared to other races and ethnicities.
National Black Family Cancer Awareness Week begins Thursday. Black people face a disproportionately high burden of cancer, with significant barriers to cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survival.
“The reasons are multifactorial,” says Dr. Eddie Block, an internist at Kaiser Permanente. “What we have to consider is access to quality care. And disparities in testing and implicit bias in the medical community.”
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For example, black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, even though they have a 4% lower incidence of breast cancer. In Washington, D.C., black women have a 111% higher breast cancer death rate than white women.
“This just highlights the need for us to take this community seriously and make sure they have access to testing. And the earlier we get patients in, the earlier the detection. It’s possible. Treatment outcomes are better and survival rates are longer,” Block said.
Dr. Block says medical professionals need to raise awareness and promote early detection. And this week, Black people should talk openly and honestly about cancer.
“In the Black community, sometimes we don’t share information. Ask your grandma, ‘What kind of cancer?’ Who contracted which cancer and when? ” We really need this kind of open dialogue. Because if you know if you have a family history of a particular cancer, and it depends on the age at which you got that cancer, then you should get tested much earlier than that age. Because it could mean something. average population. That’s what your doctor needs to know so that we can give you the best treatment,” Dr. Block explained.
