SAN ANTONIO – Sixty-four percent of San Antonio is Hispanic according to the latest US census, which is why medical professionals are taking the issue of disparities in cancer in Latinos very seriously.
“Latinos are the fastest growing minority group in the country, and they are slated to have an increase of around 140% in cancer cases in the upcoming years,” said Dr. Becky Jones, of UT Health San Antonio
It’s the reason behind a three-day conference in San Antonio that kicked off Wednesday. The focus of the conference is to have open dialogue about new ideas for research, practice and communication to address Latino cancer health disparities.
Research has shown that Latinos suffer disparities in liver, stomach and cervical cancers, possibly due to a lack of awareness on the importance of health screenings, Jones said.
“Lack of access to primary care, lack of insurance, poverty rates are a little bit higher among our Latino population,” Jones said. “And also lower education. So, combined, that’s kind of sets this environment for having individuals, especially our Latino population, not getting their screenings or coming in for late stage diagnosis just because they didn’t have access to care.”
Jones said figuring out the most effective ways to get Hispanics to those life-saving screenings and close that disparity gap is their main goal over the next three days.
“During the conference, we will be talking about how do we get our Latino population back to their doctors?,” she said. “How do we get them to actually go get their cancer screenings.”