Breast Cancer & Racial Divide Twenty years ago, breast cancer survival rates for white and black women were about the same. But as improvements in screening and treatment came into use, the gap has widened. Now, more white women are diagnosed with breast cancer, but black women are more likely to die of the disease. And, of those that do die, black women will die three years sooner than their white counterparts. Memphis has the worst outcomes in the country for African-American women with breast cancer. Black women with the disease in Memphis are more than twice as likely to die than white women. Nationally, African-American women with breast cancer are 40 percent more likely to die than white women. The biggest problem health officials say is that black women in Memphis do not seek health care for screening or at the earliest signs of breast cancer develop. Now, city hospitals, health advocates, and policy makers have launched a campaign and formed the Congregational Health Network. The Network has signed on 500 congregations. Through ambassadors, like Carole Dickenson, education about prevention and screening make their way to African American churches throughout Memphis. This is a story about how health officials in one city wanted to make a difference in complicated and tragic health outcomes that confound the nation.
