Even as overall cancer mortality rates have steadily declined during the last 30 years, Black women are still far more likely to die from cancer than any other group of women. Now the American Cancer Society is tackling this disturbing health care disparity: On Tuesday, it announced the launch of a new study called, VOICES of Black Women, that will explore how medical histories, lifestyles, and encounters with racism influence Black women’s cancer risk and mortality.
“Including Black women in research is a crucial step toward improving cancer outcomes and eliminating disparities,” the organization stated on its website. “By joining together, we can gain valuable insights into the diverse experiences and health challenges faced by Black women and learn how to deliver culturally competent and effective interventions, treatments, and preventive measures.”
For decades, Black women have been inadequately represented in health research, due in part to medical discrimination. For example, just this week, a data analysis from the independent health policy research firm KFF found that 21 percent of Black women report experiencing unfair treatment from healthcare providers or staff based on their racial or ethnic background. Additionally, a similar percentage (22 percent) of Black women who have been pregnant or given birth in the last decade state they were denied pain medication they believed necessary.
The American Cancer Society’s new study “represents a crucial step toward achieving health equity in a population that is long overdue,” said Dr. Alpa Patel, co-principal investigator of the study and senior vice president of population science at the American Cancer Society. “By centering Black women’s voices and experiences, we can dig deeper in uncovering the unique challenges and barriers contributing to cancer disparities and develop tailored interventions to mitigate them.”
Already, more than 100,000 Black women between the ages of 25 and 55 have enrolled in the study, agreeing to let researchers track their health over the course of the next 30 years.