SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The American Cancer Society is calling on Black women to use their voices to fight breast cancer.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and there’s a good reason to include Black women in research.
Dr. Patience O’Dell is a breast surgical oncologist at Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael.
“African-American women fare worse than any other ethnic group, with an approximately 40% higher risk of dying from breast cancer than white women overall,” she said.
She says that regardless of what stage they are sent to, they still have the lowest survival rate of all ethnic groups.
Kaiser works to improve outcomes for Black women by providing education, support and testing.
Read more: Joanne Landen, cancer-free for 10 years, urges women to recognize the link between breast density and cancer risk
Stacey Sager shares more about Joan Lunden’s breast cancer survival story.
The American Cancer Society is also committed to improving health equity for this group, which is why it is seeking 100,000 black women without cancer for its new VOICES survey.
“Unfortunately, medical research is biased and black and brown populations are less likely to be studied in science,” said Dr. Fola May, associate professor of medicine at UCLA and VOICES ambassador.
Read more: Study of 100,000 black women begins to understand why more black women are getting cancer
The study will follow participants for many years to come.
What researchers have discovered will help improve the quality of care for future generations.
You can sign up for the VOICES survey here.
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