A New Day: Black Cancer Rates Improving

Advances in health care are seemingly paying off. Black Americans’ cancer death rates continue to decline, says a recent American Cancer Society report. Death rates for all cancers combined have decreased faster among Black men than White men. Overall, cancer death rates have also decreased among Black women but at a slower rate than among White women, likely due to smaller decreases in breast and colorectal cancer death rates among Black women. While these new statistics are encouraging, there is definitely still work to be done. While racial disparities are decreasing, the 2005 death rate for all cancers combined was 33 percent higher in Black men and 16 percent higher in Black women when compared to that of White men and women, respectively. ­—BB