While cancer survival is partly connected with how an individual’s body responds to treatment, as well as to the overall quality of care and medical competence, there are other influencing factors. Many of these relate to class, gender and ethnicity.
Research has established how more deprived patients and particularly the young with more lethal cancers, lose systematically more life-years than the less deprived. To add to this, three recent inquires have exemplified such divisions.
Latinx communities and cancer
An epidemiological trend relates to cancer and poverty, in terms of access to services and survival rates. Research has shown that cancer mortality is higher in rural areas of the United States, which tend to have higher rates of poverty.
This issue can be complicated by gender and also ethnicity. In the U.S., for example, health experts and sociologists have been raising the issue of cancer survivorship and health disparities in Latinx communities.
The topic of Latinx ethnicity (as defined by Latin American cultural or ethnic identity in the U.S.) was recently addressed in the podcast “Health Equity Now.” Here members of Fred Hutch’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement sat down with Martha Zuniga, Deputy Director for Entre Hermanos. Zuniga shared her own experience with cancer and her efforts to reduce disparities in the community, especially for those who are underrepresented.
Zuniga discussed the inequities that continue to negatively affect Latinx communities when it comes to accessing health care and preventative health services.
Overcoming the cancer and poverty disparity
On the subject of disparity, new grants have been awarded to help community organizations overcome health disparities across Washington. The grants are aiding progress of eleven projects aimed at cancer prevention, screening and more among marginalized groups across Washington.
The funding comes from the Community Grant Program, operated by the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, led by Dr. Jason Mendoza. The program aims to help affected communities overcome significant health inequities by helping organizations implement projects that address a need the community has identified and by maintaining collaboration between partners.
Making information more accessible
A further barrier that exists is with access to services and with the interpretation of the plethora of information that is presented to the patient For many patients navigating a cancer diagnosis and treatment, the logistics and complications of the system can make the stress of cancer even more difficult.
A new initiative is the Fred Hutch patient navigation program which steers supportive care services based on the foundation of health equity. To testify the effectiveness, patient navigators have explained how they guide patients through the cancer care process and help secure resources like transportation, counseling, interpretation services and financial assistance.
