Jasmine Spratt
Jour 377
October 13, 2011
Word Count: 803
According to the Mississippi State Department of Health website, more than 18,000 black women receive yearly pap test screenings, however, black women are the leading carriers of cervical cancer. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, from 1999 to 2007, more than 500,000 black women died from cervical cancer. This raises concerns about whether or not the black women who get annual pap screenings, are being examined by good health care practitioners or is this due to disparities in health care.
Between 1999 and 2010 in Mississippi, more than 31,000 black women were screened for breast and cervical cancer according to the MS Department of Health. Since 2007, the number of death rates among races has varied, but there have been a noticeable decrease in the number of cervical cancer death rates in black women.
In 2010, Mississippi started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program, according to an online Mississippi Health Insurance article. Since Mississippi’s unemployment rate is relatively high and the wages tend to be low, this could be a leading factor in why many black women are suffering from certain medical problems at higher rates than other racial groups.
“Our state faces economic and health disadvantages, such as poor health status and affordable health insurance,” said nursing graduate, Rayelle Jiles. Jiles said she believes that if more health departments promoted their health care services offered and their costs, more women would go and become more educated on their health status.
According to an online article by the Urban Institute, looking at the number of public health measures, Mississippians have poor health statuses compared to residents of other states.
Based on a recent statistic conducted by the Mississippi Department of Health, more black women are screened yearly for pap, breast, and cervical exams than any other race. During 1999-2010, fewer than 18,000 white women were screened for pap, breast, and cervical cancer.
The most recent statistic performed in 2007, stated that 40, 598 women died from breast cancer, with white women being the leading mortalities, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Black women who are seen regularly by their doctors are able to start early treatment for such illnesses as breast or cervical cancer, because they realized the importance of annual screenings,” Mary Spratt said. Spratt, a 50-year-old African American woman, said she always makes sure she is seen yearly for breast and pap exams.
Research shows that individuals from medically underprivileged races are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage diseases that might have been treated more effectively or cured if diagnosed earlier, according to the NCI.
Among Asian, American Indian, and other races, excluding black women, white women hold the leading number of people screened for breast and cervical cancer. Although cancer related deaths have declined for both whites and African Americans living in the United States, African Americans continue to be the leading mortalities that die from most common cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute.
White women have the highest incidence rate for breast cancer, although black women are most likely to die from the disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, black men have the highest incidence rate for prostate cancer in the United States and are more than twice as likely as white men to die of the disease.
Many cancer statistic analysts believe that cancer health disparities are due to lack of health insurance or limited access to effective health care. According to the NCI, the most obvious factors in cancer health care disparities are associated with a lack of health care coverage and low socioeconomic status. A person’s socioeconomic status is often based on income, education level, and occupation. Financial barriers often prevent individuals or groups from obtaining effective health care.
Studies have found that socioeconomic status, more than race or ethnicity, predicts the likelihood of an individual's or a group's access to education, certain occupations, health insurance, and living conditions, all of which are associated with the risk of a person surviving cancer.
According to the NCI, lack of medical coverage, barriers to early detection and screening, and unequal access to improvements in cancer treatment may contribute to differences in cancer survival between black and white women. Additionally, recent NCI-supported research indicates that aggressive breast tumors are more common in younger black and Hispanic/Latino women living in low socioeconomic status areas.
Hispanic and Latino women in Mississippi had the lowest number of women who get annual pap, cervical, and breast exams, according to the Mississippi department of health website.
Spratt said there should be more health care awareness that promotes and protects the health of all Mississippians. “It is imperative that women, young or old, of any race are mindful of the importance of getting yearly exams, Spratt said.”
SOURCES
Mary Spratt 662-315-1552 marysprtt@yahoo.com
Rayelle Jiles 601-291-4130
http://www.cancer.gov “Cancer Health Disparities”
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/statistics/race.htm
http://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/resources/1592.pdf
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