Reducing Health Disparities

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Cancer impacts everyone, but it doesn’t impact everyone equally. We are working to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer. No one should be disadvantaged in their fight against cancer because of how much money they make, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their disability status, or where they live.

From ensuring greater diversity among clinical trial participants to improving access to quality, affordable health care, we are asking lawmakers to reduce disparities in cancer care by advancing policies that break down existing barriers.

Black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women overall

Latest Updates

April 24, 2024
National, New Jersey

The following is a statement from Dr. Karen E. Knudsen, CEO of the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), on the passing of U.S. Representative Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-N.J.).

March 26, 2024
Hawaii

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) volunteers from across Hawaii met with their legislators at the Hawaii State Capitol Thursday to urge them to support HB1301. If enacted, the policy would enable funding for a multiethnic cohort study by the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in the Hawaii Pacific region.

March 18, 2024

At the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. As part of our deep commitment to advancing health equity, ACS CAN launched new policy

February 22, 2024
National

A new paper released today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology finds that while incorporating pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing into cancer care can help improve patient outcomes, barriers to PGx testing, discovery, and implementation are impacting its adoption and creating disparities that impact diverse populations.

Reducing Health Disparities Resources

Prescription drug costs are a significant burden on cancer patients and survivors, sometimes even leading patients to miss or delay taking prescribed medications. The latest Survivor Views survey explores the role copay assistance programs can play in reducing this burden, and also addresses patient navigation and digital therapeutics.

ACS CAN submitted comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the Diversity Plans To Improve Enrollment of Participants From Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Populations in Clinical Trials Draft Guidance for Industry. 

ACS CAN and more than 150 organizations representing patients, providers and health equity advocates sent a letter to Congress urging them to pass the Diversifying Investigations Via Equitable Research Studies for Everyone (DIVERSE) Trials Act into law to remove barriers to clinical trial enrollment.