Black History Month: Better Breast Health for Black Women

October brings together two important commemorations: Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Black History Month. Their overlap provides a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the inequitable impact of breast cancer on ethnically diverse women. At the same time, it is imperative that honouring Black heritage and addressing inequities remain ongoing commitments.

Black women are 31% less likely to survive breast cancer than white women. Black women are also more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age and are more likely to develop triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form that is harder to treat.  

This is unjust and reflects wider health inequities: unfair and avoidable differences in healthcare access, experiences and outcomes. These inequities are driven by complex and overlapping factors, including community stigma, previous negative experiences of healthcare, ethnicity, income and disability. 

Behind these statistics are real lives and real experiences. Listening to, advocating for and learning from those experiences is essential if we are to meaningfully address health inequities.  

Fola Olurin is one of Prevent Breast Cancer's Patient Representatives and a valued contributor to our Health Inequalities Roundtables and Conference. She brings lived experience and community insight to conversations around health inequities and engagement: 

 “Having experienced breast cancer myself, I know there is a difference between being seen and actually being heard. I had to go back to my GP more than once because I knew something had changed in my body. In the end, I was right. That experience has never really left me, and it is part of what drives the work I do now.”

Fola is the Founder of TIE to Wellness CIC, a community led organisation advancing health equity through lived experience, community led research and insight, and culturally responsive practice. TIE to Wellness is currently working with Black African and Black Caribbean women around breast health and screening, exploring awareness, experiences and barriers to help inform more responsive and inclusive services.

When asked about the intersection of Black History Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Fola shared the following:  

"For me, the overlap of Black History Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to ask whose voices are still missing. If we want better outcomes, we need to keep listening, building trust and learning from communities. That listening and action must continue throughout the year. That is how visibility becomes meaningful change."  

Building connection and trust with communities is a critical part of addressing health inequities. This is where our Health Inclusion team are making a difference.

We work with Black African and Black Caribbean community groups across Greater Manchester to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, how to check your breasts and the importance of breast screening. Our outreach centres the needs of ethnically diverse communities, tailoring sessions, stalls and events to the communities we engage with. For example, we have partnered with community representatives to deliver breast awareness messaging in 13 different languages.

We have worked with groups such as Support and Action Women’s Network, a charity based in Oldham who empower African women to thrive through support, solidarity and community. SAWN’s Founder and Chief Executive, Rose Ssali, also partnered with the team to co-create a patient story video that diversifies representation and challenges misconceptions around breast cancer, showing that a diagnosis is not a death sentence.

Most recently, the Health Inclusion Team delivered a breast awareness session with Gambia Women, an organisation supporting Gambian women living in Manchester. Together, they created an inclusive space where over 40 women share experiences, ask questions and learn alongside their community peers. Women described the session as empowering, meaningful and informative, highlighting the value of learning in a supportive community environment.

Community outreach is essential, but awareness alone cannot eliminate health inequities. During Black History Month and throughout the year, our Health Inclusion team works with Black African and Black Caribbean community groups to address systemic health inequities by advocating for women within strategic partnerships and panels, and challenging the systems that enable the unfair treatment of ethnically diverse women.

Reducing health inequities requires action across the public sector, research community and voluntary sector, informed by the voices and experiences of the women most affected. By combining community engagement, lived experience and system-wide advocacy, we can help ensure that every woman has equitable access to information, early detection and support.

The intersection of Black History Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month provides an important occasion to highlight these issues. But addressing the health inequities that affect Black women must not be confined to a single month. Meaningful change requires sustained commitment, continued partnership and consistent action. Together, we can work towards a future where every woman, regardless of her ethnicity or background, has the same opportunity to detect breast cancer early and the same chance of surviving it.