Hear Me Now: BME men at higher risk of prostate cancer

One year ago, a groundbreaking report was delivered in Parliament. It was called Hear Me Now: The uncomfortable reality of prostate cancer in Black African-Caribbean men. With the help of several community organisations, Rose Thompson, radiotherapy radiographer and founder of BME Cancer Communities, had compiled some shocking and revealing statistics in this report: Black men in England are more than twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than white men, and twice more likely to die from it.

This alarming evidence set into motion a number of discussions in London, Leeds, Nottingham, and Birmingham. Health care professionals, community leaders, politicians, and prostate cancer survivors discussed how to best tackle this health inequality.

The main issue raised was that Black men were not getting diagnosed early enough, either because they were reluctant to ask for a blood test or because their healthcare providers refused to give it to them until the cancer had progressed to a late stage. The earlier a cancer is diagnosed, the higher the chances of survival.

The results of these meetings are now published in Thompson’s second report. On April 2nd, an event was held in parliament to introduce Thompson’s second report. Hear Me Now: One Year On which provides detailed recommendations on how to reduce the prostate cancer death rate for Black men.

Both general bodies (such as community organisations) and specific entities (such as the National Prostate Cancer Audit) are targeted. One of the major recommendations is that health care professionals be educated on the prevalence of prostate cancer in Black men, as well as their tendency to get the cancer at a younger age then white men. Hopefully, with this information, the cancer will be diagnosed earlier.

“It’s a gift to our communities,”

stated Thompson, who hopes the report will help cancer groups lobby for necessary funding and change.

Other speakers at the event included Shadow Minister for Public Health Luciana Berger MP and Tottenham MP David Lammy, who promised to call for a parliamentary debate on the outcomes of the report. Frank Chinegwundow, Consultant Urological Surgeon, Chief Executive of Cancer Black Care, and a major contributor to the report, called for a national screening programme targeted at Black men.

Bishop Melvin Brooks shared his prostate cancer survival story; He contacted his doctor after experiencing increased urination, but it wasn’t until his hospitalisation three months later that he was finally diagnosed. After undergoing treatment, he is now cancer-free.

The bad news is, Black men are at a higher risk of getting and dying from prostate cancer then white men. There are also signs indicating that the proportion of Asian men with prostate cancer may be on the rise.

The good news is, a high percentage of men diagnosed with prostate cancer survive it and go on to live a full life. If the recommendations made in Hear Me Now: One Year On are taken to heart, that percentage could get even higher.

To download the original report, go to: http://www.bmecancer.com/index.php/cancers/prostate-cancer/83-hear-me-now

Belinda Schwartz