According to the Office of Minority Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, African-Americans have the highest death rate of any ethnic group for cancer. In 2011, about 168,900 new cancer cases and 65,540 cancer deaths are expected among African-Americans.
In the recently released "Cancer Facts & Figures for African Americans 2011-2012", the latest edition of the American Cancer Society's biannual report, racial disparity in cancer death rates is decreasing. However, African-Americans continue to bear a greater cancer burden than any other racial group in the United States.
According to the report, the following are the most common cancers among African-American women:
• breast cancer – 34 percent
• lung cancer - 13 percent
• colorectal cancer – 11 percent
Lung cancer accounts for the highest number of deaths among African-American women, followed by breast cancer.
For nearly all cancers, African-Americans are far more likely than whites to be diagnosed in advanced stages of disease. Also, the report found that African- Americans are less likely than whites to survive 5 years after a diagnosis, regardless of cancer type and stage of diagnosis.
Compared to whites, death rates were 16 percent higher among African-American women in 2007, the last year measured.
Researchers said the reasons are complex. "African-Americans are disproportionately represented in lower socioeconomic groups," said Otis Brawley, the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. There are also significant differences in income and education and high-quality health care issues. Also, lifestyle factors may play a factor.
Below please find free or low-cost cancer screening centers which were provided by the Office of Minority Health. These programs are focused on assisting the African-American community.
Breast and Cervical Cancer
CDC – home page
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/nbccedp/
CDC - find a program locator
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/cancercontacts/nbccedp/contacts.asp
Colorectal Cancer Screening
CDC – About the program
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/crccp/about.htm
CDC - Contact information
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/crccp/contacts.htm
Sisters Network Inc.
http://www.sistersnetworkinc.org/
This program provides financial assistance for mammograms, co-pay, office visits, prescriptions, medical related lodging and transportation.
Sisters Network is the first national African American breast cancer survivors support group. The organization was established in 1994 by several African American breast cancer survivors. These women saw the need to unite survivors, the community and health professionals for the sole purpose of fighting the breast cancer epidemic. The primary services of Sisters Network are to provide: emotional and psychological support, a resource for medical research, community cancer education and awareness programs, a speaker’s bureau, in-home survivor to survivor support, and a national newsletter and other educational forms of communication. Sisters Network currently has chapters in Houston, TX; Lake Jackson, TX; Dallas, TX; Los Angeles, CA; Long Island, NY; and Seale, AL. For further information call the National Headquarters.
National African American Outreach Program (NAAOP) - Patient Advocate Foundation http://www.patientadvocate.org/patient_services.php?p=753
This program provides effective mediation and arbitration services to patients to remove obstacles to health care including medical debt crisis, insurance access issues and employment issues for patients with chronic, debilitating and life-threatening illnesses.
The PAF National African American Outreach Program (NAAOP) is designed to reduce health care disparities and assist clients in obtaining a better quality of life within disenfranchised communities by disseminating information to those who are generally unable to receive reliable health care. The program targets high risk health areas such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, kidney failure, and stroke, along with specific types of cancer: breast, cervical, lung, colorectal and prostate. NAAOP seeks to ensure the patient’s rights to adequate health care and their empowerment to improve the quality of life in the African American community. Patient Advocate Foundation's National African American Outreach Program is funded in part by Novartis Oncology.
Sources:
http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/news/News/cancers-racial-gap-narrowing-for-some-not-all-cancers
http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/acspc-027765.pdf
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/215381.php
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/taking_the_initiative_ggRGSUGF1ZFMS71utjg31K#ixzz1CpPEL7Aw