)
Alderman Harry Osterman
4 8TH WARD
City Council - November 8, 2017
Resolution
WHEREAS, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the City of Chicago has previously had the dubious distinction of having one of the highest breast cancer mortality racial disparity rates in the country; and
WHEREAS, In 2003, Black women in Chicago died from breast cancer at a rate 68% higher than White women and between 2005-2007 Chicago's Black women died 62% more often from breast cancer; and Latinas experience high rates of late stage breast cancer diagnosis and encounter similar barriers to accessing high quality care in their communities; and
WHEREAS, Today, the disparity in breast cancer mortality for Black women has
dramatically decreased from 62% higher death rate to now40%; and
WHEREAS, Collective efforts to improve outreach, navigation to high quality resources and timely, high quality screening and treatment have contributed to the reduction of this inequity between 2008-2013 by 35% through work of organizations like the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force, the Helping her Live program, Sisters Working it Out and other community partners; and
WHEREAS, The needle is moving in the right direction and Chicago now leads the nation in reducing breast cancer mortality, still more needs to be done to eliminate this health inequity at an accelerated pace; and
WHEREAS, Women of color and low-income women have been found to receive less than optimal care in Chicago with their breast cancers more often missed on mammograms compared to other women as found by researchers at University of Illinois at Chicago; and
5533 NORTH BROADWAY • CHICAGO, ILUN01S 60640 • 773-784-5277 • Fax 773-784-5033
WHEREAS, Deficiencies in Chicago's healthcare system are perpetuated by structural racism and segregation of resources resulting in a lack of true accessibility to high quality care, which disproportionately afflicts Black, Brown and other communities of color in Chicago desp...
Click here for full text