Art Off The Main: The African, Caribbean & Latin American Art Fair: Paint it Pink – October 7, 2007, New York

Arts Community and Advocates come together to Raise Awareness of Breast Cancer in Black Women

Breast Cancer Among Young African American Women a Major Public Health Concern

Artists of African, Caribbean and Latin American Ancestry and their art dealers have joined forces in “Paint it Pink”, a major art exposition and gala reception aimed at raising awareness of breast cancer in African American women, particularly those under 40 years old.

For the fourth Year, Art Off The Main: The African, Caribbean & Latin American Art Fair will host Paint it Pink, on Friday, October 7, 2007 at the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street, New York.

Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Young Survival Coalition the only international, non-profit network of breast cancer survivors and supporters dedicated to the concerns and issues that are unique to young women and breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis among African American women. While white women develop breast cancer at higher rates than African American women, African American women are more likely than white women to be diagnosed at later stages of the disease and have higher mortality rates. According to a National Cancer Institute study, African American women are 2.2 times more likely to die.

When it comes to younger women and breast cancer, the situation is even more alarming and is viewed as a major public health issue. Breast cancer has long been thought of as an older woman’s disease and consequently the focus has been on prevention, detection and treatment of breast cancer for women 50 and older. But in the African-American community, the disease often strikes before the age that physicians and cancer advocates recommend that women get baseline mammograms- age 40.

Research shows that when younger, pre-menopausal, black women get breast cancer, they are more than twice as likely as older women, black or white, to get an aggressive breast cancer subtype

The reasons behind these trends have been under debate in medical circles and a number of hypotheses have been presented including genetics, diet, less access to health care and screening,

The past five years have seen an overall increase in the number of women who undergo hand-examinations and mammograms to check for lumps in their breasts. However, African American women have fewer mammograms than white women and are likely to be diagnosed after the cancer has spread.

Researchers have shown that African American women who have regular mammograms have the same excellent chances of surviving breast cancer as all other groups of women and that when African American women receive equivalent treatment for the same stage of breast cancer, their recovery outcomes are comparable with those of white women. This points to the need for greater awareness and education about breast cancer among Black women; Paint it Pink seeks to be a catalyst for this. For more information please visit PaintitPink.org or Youngsurvival.org.