Breast cancer black women

This year? Every two minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, the five-year relative survival rate for Black women is 78 percent compared to 90 percent among Caucasian women. The following organizations are working to change that.

Mara Gordon. As a counselor, Niasha Fray saw firsthand the obstacles black women face in breast cancer treatment. Justin Cook for NPR hide caption. When she was in graduate school for public health, Niasha Fray found a job she loved: counseling women with breast cancer about sticking to their treatment. She offered what's called "motivational interviewing," a type of therapy intended to help women overcome obstacles keeping them from taking their medications — which can have unpleasant side effects. Fray was doing the counseling as part of research into disparities in cancer outcomes at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. And all of her work helping women — particularly black women, who are more likely to die from breast cancer than their white counterparts — became very personal.

White women and black women have the highest incidence rate of new breast cancer cases overall [ ]. American Indian and Alaska Native women have the lowest incidence see Figure 2. The lifetime risk of breast cancer for women in the U. However, this risk varies by race and ethnic group. One reason behind differences in breast cancer rates may be that the prevalence rates of some risk factors for breast cancer vary by race and ethnic group [ 10 ].

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center launched its fourth statewide cancer research initiative to focus on breast cancer in Black women. The Turning the Page on Breast Cancer in Ohio program will use a multi-level approach in 12 Ohio counties to provide breast cancer education. Several strategies will be used to direct interested women to a website where they can enter information about themselves and their family history of cancer to determine if they are at increased risk. High-risk women will be referred to genetic counseling, where they can receive a tailored risk assessment and genetic testing when appropriate.