Cancer impacts everyone, but it doesn’t impact everyone equally. For the American Cancer Society (ACS) and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), health equity means everyone has a fair and just opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer – regardless of income, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, or where they live. ACS CAN advocates for evidence-based policies that reduce the cancer burden for everyone and is making cancer a top priority for public officials and candidates at the federal, state and local levels.
In 2018, ACS CAN released its inaugural Cancer Disparities: A Chartbook which illustrated the scope of cancer disparities across the cancer continuum in the United States, along with the evidence-based policy recommendations at the local, state and federal levels that seek to reduce these disparities. As ACS CAN continues in its commitment to advance health equity, this updated ACS CAN chartbook examines cancer disparities across different populations, shows how certain communities are uniquely burdened by cancer, and highlights the policies that can address these inequalities as we continue in our advocacy to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. This ACS CAN chartbook provides cancer-specific data related to disparities in cancer prevention, screening, and early detection; disparities in incidence mortality and survival; as well as disparities in access to coverage experienced by historically marginalized communities. Additionally, some of the maps included in this chartbook are interactive and can be further explored via the provided links.
