This National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, talk cancer screening with your health care provider

: April 12, 2016FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LANSING, Mich. – In Michigan and throughout the country, some groups of people are more likely to get, and die from, cancer. To help raise awareness about the disparities that exist with cancer, and to help focus efforts to reduce disparities, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is promoting National Minority Cancer Awareness Week.

“It’s vital that all people recognize the fact that they need to be screened or tested for cancer,” said Dr. Eden Wells, Chief Medical Executive for MDHHS. “Screening tests exist for a number of cancers including breast, cervical, colorectal and lung cancer. Talk with your health care provider about being screened and also discuss any family history of cancer that may put you at higher risk.”

National cancer disparities exist for many minority groups, including:

• African Americans are more likely to die of cancer than people of any other racial or ethnic group.
• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have risk factors that lead to a greater rate of cancer cases.
• Individuals with a mental illness may develop cancer at a 2.6 times higher rate on account of late stage diagnosis and inadequate treatment and screenings. People with mental illness also have a higher death rate due to cancer.
• Women with disabilities are less likely to have received a mammogram during the past two years.
• Overall, the cervical cancer incidence rate among U.S. Hispanic women is about 44 percent higher than among non-Hispanic whites.

Cancer screening is vital to identifying cancers early on. In Michigan, 2013 data indicates that an estimated 45.7 percent of Arab adults aged 50 years or older reported appropriate colorectal cancer screening, significantly less than the 71 percent of all Michigan adults aged 50 years and older.

The MDHHS reminds people that under the Affordable Care Act, most health insurance plans including the Healthy Michigan Plan cover recommended preventive services including testing for different cancers. Check with your plan to find out details of what is covered. For more information about cancer-prevention resources, visit www.michigan.gov/cancer.

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