Health

Black women die at higher rates from breast cancer than most

Councilmember Farah Louis hosts a mammogram bus that offers free screenings in Flatbush on Saturday, Sept. 17 (Ariama C. Long photo)

By ARIAMA C. LONG

Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among women, but research shows that despite a slight decline in the mortality rate due to earlier detection and improvements in treatment, Black women are still at a 40% higher risk of death from breast cancers than white women.

“Our community is predominantly African American and Caribbean, and I think we always wait for that month when we commemorate breast cancer awareness in October but we should be talking about breast cancer with our family and our community everyday, all year round,” said Councilmember Farah Louis who hosted the Mammogram Bus in Flatbush, Brooklyn on Saturday, Sept. 17, in partnership with the American Italian Cancer Foundation.

Louis recently opened a women’s clinic in Morris Heights in the Bronx. The city-funded bus offered free screenings to women over 40 who signed up. Some women brought their daughters. While women waited for their free screenings, Louis organized other health, wellness, and fitness activities to keep them and the kids motivated. All of the women who attended were women of color of various backgrounds.

In one instance a woman of Jamaican heritage from Bed Stuy who had been a nurse opted for the free screening because she had been let go last year after not getting vaccinated and had no insurance. She said otherwise she has gotten them every year since she was 40. She asked to not be identified.

Another attendee, who gave her initials as J.W., is a NYCHA city employee and a fitness enthusiast. “Historically, I think we just don’t prioritize ourselves enough,” she

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