Ethnic press releases & forward planning

Welcome  Guest   Login | Register now  
Home  |  Submit a Press Release   |  Newsletter  |  About Ethnic Now  |  Contact Us

 Home
 Events Calendar
 Month Ahead
 Week Ahead
 Channels
  Arts & Culture
  Music
  TV, Radio & Media
  Government & Politics
  News
  Film
  Charity
  Food & Drink
  Health & Lifestyle
  Sport
  Fashion
  Books
  Business
  Schools & Education
  Travel & Tourism
  Editor's Choice
  Editors reviews
 Jobs
 People in Media
 Featured Person
Matylda Setlak
Matylda Setlak

  Today's Most Viewed
1 Gospel Aid Nigeria
2 Marks & Spencers teams up with ...
3 Mouth watering evening for BME ...
4 2nd Brazilian Film Festival of ...
5 International Asian Fashion ...
6 1st UK Iranian Film Festival
7 Chand Raat Market celebrates Eid
8 ACLT Gift of Life VIII Fundraising ...
9 Exclusive Interview with Deeyah - ...
10 KHM Couture set to send ethical ...
+7 Days
 Search From
 
  Advanced Search
Editor's Choice

New figures reveal ethnic minorities are not aware of their cancer risk

 

Images Video Audio  
6 July 2009: Despite growing evidence that cancer is becoming more prevalent amongst ethnic minority groups, news figures out today at the start of Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week show that cancer awareness levels are critically low amongst this cohort.
At least 46% of ethnic minorities are unfamiliar or not sure about the signs and symptoms of the various forms of cancer or how to reduce their cancer risk even though 61% have had a family member suffer from cancer1. These figures are alarming because studies examining specific cancers and ethnic groups have shown that African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men2 and that mouth cancer is more common amongst South Asian and Chinese communities3.

Quite a high number of ethnic minority women (78%) are aware of the NHS breast cancer screening programme1, however research has shown that 45% of black ethnic minority women of screening age (50-70) have never attended a screening of which 76% said it was because they had never been invited4. Only 22% of those questioned are aware of the NHS bowel cancer screening programme1 despite this form of cancer being the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. If diagnosed at the earliest stage, bowel cancer is highly treatable with an estimated 83% survival rate5.

Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week (6th - 12th July 2009) was launched last year by Cancer Equality in partnership with an alliance of leading cancer charities who have united to deliver a week of events to raise cancer awareness and improve access to services amongst ethnic minorities.

Jennifer Layburn, Chair of the alliance said: “Cancer awareness is important for everyone, however as these figures show, there is a need to reach ethnic minority communities with targeted awareness messages to increase the levels of awareness and early diagnosis to help reduce the inequalities that exist in survival and mortality figures”.

Other findings from the survey indicate that a lack of written information, language and a shortage of culturally appropriate and sensitive information may be contributing to this low level of awareness.

Jennifer added: “We are in a slightly better position this year in that we have some data that was recently published by the National Cancer Intelligence Network, which gives us a bit more insight into ethnic minority cancer incidences. However, there is still clearly a lot more that can be done around the recording of cancer incidence, mortality and survival in British ethnic minority groups as this will lead to a better understanding of their needs and the development of appropriate services to meet these needs.”

-End-
Posted on 03/07/2009
Press Release embargoed until 06/07/2009 00:01
Start Date: 06/07/2009
End Date: 11/07/2009
Region: All
Website: www.emcaw.co.uk
Press Information:
Contact information is hidden, please register or login to view this information.
Top
Save Article Save Article   Email Article Email Article   Print Article Print Article
  More Editor's Choice
1st UK Iranian Film Festival
Starts: 19 Nov 10   Posted: 06 Sep 10
Multi Cultural Cooking Network Anniversary
Starts: 26 Aug 10   Posted: 31 Aug 10
Festival of Afghan Culture to showcase at The Royal Albert Hall
Starts: 27 Sep 10   Posted: 23 Aug 10
Angelina Jolie talks about the Pakistani Floods
Posted: 17 Aug 10
Infinite Strokes: Chinese Ink Painting
Starts: 20 Aug 10   Posted: 10 Aug 10

Back
Submit a Press Release | Newsletter | RSS Feed

About Ethnic Now | Contact Us | Advertisers | Disclaimer | Site Map | Accessibility | Text Only Version

© 2010 Ethnic Now. All rights reserved.  Terms of Use | Privacy Policy