Advancing Health Equity – Addressing Cancer Disparities

Health Equity through the Cancer Lens

Cancer is a disease that can affect anyone, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally. Many barriers can impact a person's ability to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer. These barriers are because of deeply rooted, long-standing inequities at all levels of society that will take an intentional effort to address in order to have equal cancer outcomes.  They are complex and have many social, economic, and cultural influences that intertwine and impact each other. They include such examples as: 

• Racism and other forms of discrimination
• Poverty
• Limited access to the health care system, including affordable and adequate insurance coverage and access to high-quality health care
• Inadequate pay and lack of paid time off from work for medical care- Low-quality education 
• Lack of access to healthy and affordable foods- Lack of transportation that is accessible, affordable, and reliable-
• Lack of safe, stable, and affordable housing

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are critical to achieving our mission, and reducing cancer disparities is an overarching goal of the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. We need to make sure everyone has the ability to benefit from advancements in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. All people deserve a fair and just opportunity to live longer, healthier lives; this is demonstrated through our Core Value of diversity and intentionally striving for equity through inclusion and respect. 

We believe that we will not reach our mission if we are not inclusive of every community touched by cancer, actively working towards ending cancer disparities. We acknowledge that there is still much work to be done, in partnership with communities that have been disproportionately burdened by cancer and who experience greater obstacles to cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, and survival. This includes Black people and African Americans; Hispanic/Latino people; Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders; Indigenous people and Alaska Natives; LGBTQ+ people; and people with disabilities. This work must take an intersectional approach; that is, understanding that people have overlapping identities, which are varied, complex, and shaped by the systems they interact with. Health is not always “one size fits all,” and we must be intentional, thoughtful, and inclusive if we are to have long-lasting impact.

As a grassroots organization, ACS and ACS CAN are re‐examining and deepening our efforts to intentionally advance health equity throughout our mission including advocacy, discovery, and patient support.  Most importantly, if we are to reduce cancer disparities, we need to listen to the experiences and perspectives of people with cancer, their caregivers, and their communities, and engage them in the fight against cancer every step of the way. We’re proud to have staff, volunteers, partners, and funders who are deeply committed to diversity, inclusion, and health equity. It has never been more important to the work we do.