ZERO – ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER NEWS
WINTER 2022/2023
BLACK MEN’S PROSTATE CANCER INITIATIVE Update
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obstacles to healthcare and coordinated high-quality specialty care; and ensuring that families have the resources to manage their health and to navigate the primary and specialty healthcare delivery system. One of the starkest disparities in prostate cancer is experienced by Black men. Specifically, Black men are approximately 1.5 times more likely to get prostate cancer, often present with more advanced disease and higher PSA numbers, and are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer, compared to White men. ZERO created the Black Men’s Prostate Cancer Initiative specifically to address these disparities, and to provide Black men and their families with prostate cancer education, awareness, resources, and support. This initiative includes support groups specifically for Black men diagnosed with prostate cancer, a podcast series to amplify the issues Black men face as they navigate the healthcare delivery system, an annual Health Equity Symposium, and a “Prostate Cancer in the Black Community” film series to raise awareness about prostate cancer and the impact of the disease on families in the Black community. For more information about the Black Men’s Prostate Cancer Initiative, visit zerocancer.org/get-support/black-mens-prostate- cancer-initiative.
eliminating in prostate cancer and ending prostate cancer for all families. It is our goal for everyone to have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive prostate cancer, regardless of race, the financial resources one has or has access to, or where one lives. This aspiration is called health equity. Achieving health equity requires removing
Dr. Reggie Tucker-Seeley ZERO Vice President, Health Equity
VETERANS Update
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis among American Veterans with one in five being diagnosed in their lifetime. With almost half a million Veterans currently being treated for prostate cancer within the Veterans Administration (VA), Veterans remain one of the most vulnerable groups. 2022 was one of the most significant years for the ZERO Prostate Cancer Veteran’s Initiative. This past fall, we launched our Veterans Advisory Board, a group of committed Veterans whose purpose is to help ZERO advance the patient needs of the Veteran community. On the legislative front, ZERO led the fight to pass the Veterans’ Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act, which will improve access to prostate cancer care at the VA. We look
Ali Manson ZERO Vice President, Government Relations and Advocacy
forward to working with our Veterans partners to finish the job and ensure it is implemented in a patient- centric way. Another victory for prostate cancer came with the passage of the Honoring our PACT Act of
2022, which greatly expands VA healthcare benefits for Veterans with toxic exposure during our nation’s wars. Toxic exposures such as Agent Orange have been definitively linked to prostate cancer, so ensuring that our Veterans get timely and proper care is a major step in the right direction. Go to zerocancer.org/veterans to learn more about ZERO’s efforts to help Veterans with prostate cancer.
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