Title
Authorizing the Committee on Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings examining the state of breast cancer incidence and mortality in Philadelphia; the impact of the closure of the Susan G. Komen Philadelphia chapter, particularly on women of color; and other resources and organizations available to help the City prioritize breast cancer control initiatives in Philadelphia.
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WHEREAS, The National Cancer Institute predicts the number of people who will die from breast or colon cancer in the United States will increase by nearly 10,000 over the next decade because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays in cancer screening, diagnoses, and an overall reduction in oncology care; and
WHEREAS, The National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program estimates that in 2020, 276,480 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 42,170 will die of the disease; and
WHEREAS, The inaugural progress report on the state of cancer health disparities published by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in September 2020 states that racial and ethnic minority populations in the U.S. have long experienced cancer health disparities. Black Americans in particular have had the highest overall cancer death rate of any racial or ethnic group in the nation for more than four decades. Black Americans have a 39% higher risk of dying from breast cancer as compared with their white counterparts. Breast cancer is also the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Black women; and
WHEREAS, In September 2020, Drexel University's report on the state of cancer in Philadelphia revealed that incidence and mortality for several types of common cancers are higher in Philadelphia than in Pennsylvania as a whole. In Philadelphia, cancer mortality is higher for Black Americans and communities with lower levels of education than for other racial groups and communities with higher levels of education. The incidence for brea...
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