Global funding initiative Cancer Grand Challenges recently announced the creation of new international teams dedicated to studying cancer inequities.
Led by the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research UK, Cancer Grand Challenges was created in 2020 to address cancer biology and patient care for those diagnosed with all types of cancer.
With the creation of SAMBAI (Societal, Ancestry, Molecular and Biological Analyses of Inequalities), health officials from 15 institutions in the U.S., U.K., South Africa and Ghana will be awarded $25 million in funds to study disparities.
The group will specifically study disparities that exist in the high level of cancer diagnoses among patients of African descent. The project will also study rates of childhood cancers and early-onset colorectal cancer.
Gathering information on tumor tissues, socioeconomic issues, genetics and other factors is one way SAMBAI aims to compile all its findings into a dataset known as the SAMBAI Biobank and Data Repository for Cancer Equity Research.
The project will also reportedly ensure that African health and learning institutions are able to continue their work and develop their own datasets.
“Together with our network of visionary partners and research leaders, Cancer Grand Challenges unites many of the world’s brightest minds across boundaries and disciplines and aims to overcome cancer’s toughest problems,” said the director of Cancer Grand Challenges, David Scott, Ph.D., per a statement. “With this investment, we continue to grow our global research community and fund new teams that have the potential to surface discoveries that could positively impact cancer outcomes.”
The creation of the teams comes amidst new reports that the mortality rate for Black adults with cancer in the U.S. is still higher than any other demographic.
Per the latest report by the United Press International, although there was a decrease from 2000, the rate of Black people that passed away from cancer was still 167 people out of every 100,000 individuals. Comparatively, approximately 149 out of every 100,000 white people passed away from some form of cancer.
The rates were particularly disproportionate when it came to breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer. Whereas white women were more likely to pass away in the years prior, Black women now have an increased 37% chance of passing away from breast cancer.
As for prostate and colon cancer, when compared to white men, Black men now have double the chance of dying from prostate cancer and an increased 45% chance of dying from colon cancer.
Contributing factors to these higher rates include less access to quality healthcare and mistrust in the U.S. healthcare system.
