Cancer is a disease that can affect anyone, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally.

 
Many social structures and practices can limit a person’s access to health care needed to prevent, treat, and survive cancer. These obstacles may include racism, discrimination, poverty, lack of access to healthy and affordable foods, low quality education and housing,
and jobs with inadequate pay.
 

That’s why African Americans and other racial and ethnic groups, people who have low incomes or are underinsured or uninsured, and people living in rural areas often face greater obstacles than others.
 

The American Cancer Society is actively working to end these disparities in cancer and fight for health equity, which means everyone has a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat and survive cancer.
 

If we are to further reduce deaths from cancer, we need to make sure everyone has the ability to benefit from the advances in research, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.
 

No one should be disadvantaged in their fight against cancer because of how much money they make, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their disability status, or where they live.