CANCER
PREVENTION & CARE
We promote early detection screenings and environmental policy changes that benefit African Americans.
African Americans & Cancer
African Americans experience higher cancer incidence, higher mortality rates, and poorer survival rates than other racial groups.
Often, health disparities can be linked to delayed diagnosis, lack of health insurance, inadequate access to quality cancer treatment, and poor patient care. The Center for Black Health & Equity and its strategic partners are working to eliminate these health challenges in the African American communities. Education, training, and collaboration will increase awareness and innovative strategies to engage more African Americans in cancer prevention activities.
The Facts
Although the overall racial disparity in cancer death rates is decreasing, in 2007 the death rate for all combined cancers was 32% higher in African American men and 16% higher in African American women than in white men and women.
About 168,900 new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed among African Americans in 2011. The most common of these among African American men are prostate (40%), lung (15%), and colon and rectum (9%). Among African American women, the most common cancers are breast (34%), lung (13%), and colorectum (11%).