Strategic Alliances

Graphic: Cathleen Heard Although a smaller percentage of African American women are diagnosed with breast cancer than white women, African Americans are more likely to die from breast cancer than women from other ethnic groups. Vietnamese American women have the highest cervical cancer rates of any ethnic group. And poor Americans of all races have higher rates of cancer incidence and mortality than do people from other socioeconomic groups. The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) report The Une

Written byMyrna Watanabe

| 8 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

8:00

Graphic: Cathleen Heard

Although a smaller percentage of African American women are diagnosed with breast cancer than white women, African Americans are more likely to die from breast cancer than women from other ethnic groups. Vietnamese American women have the highest cervical cancer rates of any ethnic group. And poor Americans of all races have higher rates of cancer incidence and mortality than do people from other socioeconomic groups.

The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) report The Unequal Burden of Cancer¹ publicly acknowledged disparities in cancer and cancer mortality rates between the white population in the United States and ethnic minority members and the very poor. But some at the National Institutes of Health note that they have long known about these health disparities.

"I made [health dispartities] a top priority at NIEHS [the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences] when I arrived in 1991," says NIEHS director Kenneth Olden. He ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member? Login Here