Cervical cancer which has a survival rate of five year and which is of more than 90 percent, a research has confirmed that the most vulnerable to the disease’s most catastrophic impacts are Black women, who most likely receives a late stage diagnosis and are much more probable to die than their white counterparts - this sheds light on the harsh reality they face based on the racial disparities within the healthcare that prevents access to the black women. They are unable to seek and receive the adequate care they require and deserve.

Researchers carried out 148 interviews with Black women between the ages of 18 and 82 living primarily in 3 rural southwest counties in Georgia, including Baker, Coffee, and Wilcox. During the interviews, participants described the challenges they face in accessing reproductive healthcare services and information to prevent and treat cervical cancer — shining light on the overall medical racism that Black women face not just when it comes to a cancer diagnosis and treatment, but also for other reproductive health concerns, including pregnancy and gynecological care.

Georgia’s healthcare system is failing Black women on this front at every angle, with the study finding that Black Georgian women are more likely than white women to not undergo potentially life-saving cancer screenings, receiving diagnoses at a later stage, and therefore lowering their five-year survival rates. In a country with the amount of resources we have, it’s unacceptable at every level that anyone is denied proper preventative care and treatment for any health concern, but especially one with such a high survival rate.

The researchers summed it up best in the report, writing, “These preventable deaths also represent a failure of the federal, state, and local governments to protect and promote human rights for all people and to ensure adequate and affordable access to the lifesaving reproductive healthcare services and information all people need and have a right to.”

The only way to eliminate cervical cancer completely is by ensuring equitable access to life-saving screenings, vaccines, and care, and there are so many women still facing an entirely preventable late-stage diagnosis because of these unacceptable disparities.

Sources - https://www.scarymommy.com/racial-disparities-cervical-cancer-deaths-black-women/