The Black Breast Cancer Alliance—in partnership with the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and Nueva Vida—was awarded the inaugural “Toward Health Equity for Black People Impacted by Triple Negative Breast Cancer Resource Hub” grant from Gilead Sciences for their Black TNBC Matters project.
According to a press release, the Black TNBC Matters team will build a culturally specific, bilingual, scientifically vetted, search engine optimized (SEO)- and mobile-optimized, web-based home for Black people impacted by triple-negative breast cancer and their families.
In an effort to contend with the data that shows Black people are diagnosed with triple- negative breast cancer (TNBC) at nearly three times the rate of their white counterparts, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance has worked to advance intentional, life-saving science for Black breast cancer survivors/thrivers and to drive the collaborative efforts of the breast cancer community—including patients, survivors, and pharmaceutical companies—to work together toward the common goal of eradicating breast cancer in Black people.
“Black TNBC Matters will start—and be grounded throughout the process—in community,” said Ricki Fairley, CEO of TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance. “The first thing that someone newly diagnosed with triple- negative breast cancer does after they leave their doctor’s office is to search ‘triple-negative breast cancer’ online. Usually sitting in their car on their cell phone. As is, the results are scary and confusing. If you add ‘Black’ into that search, it only gets worse. We want our resource hub to be a light in all that darkness. All Black people impacted by TNBC deserve to find community and hope from that very first search.”
A grant of this kind is another crucial step in decreasing the over 40 percent mortality rate of Black breast cancer patients as well as the lowest 5-year survival rate of any race or ethnicity. In short, it is imperative that the medical and scientific community continue to fund efforts that are racially specific in an effort to continue the fight against the disease.