A new study shows that cervical cancer is killing far more women in the U.S. than originally thought. Dr. Deanna Teoh is an oncologist at the University of Minnesota:
(“One of the things that is important about cervical cancer is we do have prevention strategies. So screening, vaccination. The other thing is that cervical cancer found in the early stages can be very treatable and even curable.”)
Teoh says “once you have the cancer if you have access to care, you are more likely to show up earlier when we potentially could cure this cancer. But if you don’t have access to care, a lot of these women are showing up with very advanced cancers when we don’t have the ability to treat them.”
She says the increase among black women could be directly related to a lack of access to health care services. Teoh says the repeal of the Affordable Care Act could also affect this racial gap.
The mortality rate among black women is 77-percent higher than originally thought.
But, a UMN team is reducing this disparity by bringing resources and programs like SEE, TEST & TREAT to underserved communities. This program, for example, offers free cervical and breast cancer screening with same day results- which could find cervical cancer in its early stages and be the difference between life and death.