The death of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, 43, after a four-year private battle with colon cancer has raised fresh concerns about how the illness disparately harms Black men.
“If it happened to Chadwick Boseman, who had access to probably the best health care his money could buy, what about the average Joe?” asked Rhonda M. Smith, the interim executive director at California Black Health Network, a nonprofit based in Sacramento.
Boseman’s death highlights disparities in the Black community for colorectal cancer and death rates from all cancers. African Americans, compared with any racial or ethnic group, have the highest mortality rate for all cancers combined, making cancer a leading cause of death for the community. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that Black men have lower five-year survival rates for most cancers than non-Hispanic white men.
See “Chadwick Boseman’s death reveals cancer disparities in the Black community” by Lauren Hernandez on the Cronkite News (Arizona PBS) website (September 10, 2020)
