Hologic, Inc. announced it has launched Project Health Equality (PHE), an initiative that strives to address the structural and cultural barriers that prevent Black and Hispanic women in the U.S. from receiving the same quality health care as white women.
PHE will focus initially on how healthcare is experienced by thousands of Black and Hispanic women in regions across the United States. It will leverage crucial partners to make meaningful, sustainable healthcare improvements in these communities.
PHE is a multifaceted, multiyear investment of more than $20 million to drive research, education and access to ensure women of color receive the care they want, need and deserve. It accelerates and expands Hologic’s existing efforts to increase screening and care across a spectrum of life-threatening conditions – breast cancer, cervical cancer and abnormal uterine bleeding – that disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic women. The goal of PHE is to innovate culturally competent care delivery, improve public health policy, increase access and ultimately decrease disparities that lead to disproportionate mortality for Black and Hispanic women.
In the U.S., Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer and two times more likely to die from cervical cancer than white women. They also have a 14% higher incidence of cervical cancer than white women. Meanwhile, Hispanic women are 40% more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 20% more likely to die from it compared to non-Hispanic white women. Finally, Black women experience fibroids up to three times more frequently than other racial groups.
Hologic is conducting research to inform actionable insights into cultural, social and economic disparities to ensure that Black and Hispanic women in the U.S. can access and receive the best healthcare available. This will inform the company’s next steps on the path to scalable solutions. For example, a report published in February 2021 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology showed that Black women are more likely to receive inferior breast cancer screening than white women.
With leading health advocates like the Black Women’s Health Imperative and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, Hologic is developing a dedicated website, printed materials, social media assets and celebrity partnerships to help health care professionals, providers, community health workers (promotores), policy makers and others implement solutions to address the barriers that impact the healthcare experiences of Black and Hispanic women.
In collaboration with radiologic nonprofit RAD-AID, Hologic is expanding the delivery of state-of-the-art care, from screenings through treatment, for thousands of underserved women. Hologic and RAD-AID are partnering with Federally Qualified Health Care Centers, local community health clinics and tertiary care institutions across the United States, including in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Washington, D.C., to ensure greater access and higher-quality health care.
Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI) is the only national organization devoted solely to advancing the health and wellness of America's 22 million Black women and girls and has been a partner of Hologic since 1998. BWHI is a crucial partner in addressing racial and systemic barriers to care for Black women and reaching them in a way that is relevant and impactful. In October 2020, BWHI and Hologic launched the P.O.W.E.R of Sure campaign – a multiyear commitment to decreasing breast cancer screening disparities for Black women. The campaign features Mary J. Blige and provides a wealth of resources for Black women about mammography.
