- Conference
- 2013 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 18 September 2012
- Decision
- Carried
Conference is alarmed that figures show that Black men living in England have a three times higher risk of prostate cancer than white men. A study of all cases in London and Bristol has also found that Black men also tend to be diagnosed five years younger.
Research has found that there are very few known risk factors for prostate cancer, but being of Black race is likely to be a risk factor.
Research has also shown that there is a true biological difference between ethnic groups. This knowledge could lead to improved care for men at higher risk of developing prostate cancer.
Conference notes that the statistics around prostate cancer are sobering and indicate that we need to educate all men in terms of the symptoms and specifically Black men as a higher risk group. The 100 Black Men of London launched Prostate Cancer Month in March last year due to their concerns in relation to prostate cancer and Black men.
Prostate Cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the single most common cancer in all men in the UK and accounts for 24% of all new cancer diagnosis.
Conference notes with concern that research has shown that 1 in every 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives. Though only 1 in 26 men (less than 4%) will in fact die. This means men are more likely to die with prostate cancer than because of it.
100 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every day. That’s one every 15 minutes.
All men need to educated on the symptoms and Black men need to be targeted to increase earlier diagnosis as this is a factor that can lead to better outcomes for Black men.
Conference therefore calls on the National Black Members’ Committee to work with the NEC to:
1)Campaign for greater awareness of prostate cancer and the benefits of earlier screening especially for Black men.
2)Work with Cancer Research and other relevant groups to raise awareness of this issue.