Community Outreach is the Key to Overcoming Healthcare Disparities

Studies like this, while disturbing, can serve as a great motivator. Healthcare providers must step up grassroots efforts to educate at-risk communities on the importance of cancer screening.

CDC Press Release: Study finds racial and ethnic disparities in US cancer screening rate

Study finds racial and ethnic disparities in US cancer screening rates
Screening rates lower among Asian and Hispanic Americans
The percentage of U.S. citizens screened for cancer remains below national targets, with significant disparities among racial and ethnic populations, according to the first federal study to identify cancer screening disparities among Asian and Hispanic groups. The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<http://www.cdc.gov> and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, was published today in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr>.

In 2010, breast cancer screening rates were 72.4 percent, below the Healthy People 2020 target of 81 percent; cervical cancer screening was 83 percent, below the target of 93 percent; and colorectal cancer screening was 58.6 percent, below the target of 70.5 percent, according to the study, "Cancer Screening in the United States - 2010."