Speaking about the partnership, Claire Paxman, Director of Training & Strategic Initiatives, commented, “Paxman is committed to promoting equality in all parts of its business. The company supports and is strongly committed to promoting equality within not only race and colour, but also religion, sexuality, gender, and opportunity.
We truly believe a person’s life and health options should not be determined by the colour of their skin.”
Multi award-winning entrepreneur and Stage 3 breast cancer survivor Leanne Pero founded the Leanne Pero Foundation in 2017. The Black Women Rising initiative was created to address the gaps in cancer support services for Black cancer patients. Mainstream cancer services are not inclusive enough and do not provide adequate support tailored to the Black and ethnic community. Similarly, the community are not engaging with medical services, which leads to later diagnosis and unnecessary deaths disproportionate to women in other groups.
As well as the generic injustices, unhelpful myths and taboos surrounding cancer within the BAME community ultimately prevent people from speaking out about their ordeals. This subsequently spirals – further deepening the lack of awareness and education within BAME households around cancer – its signs and symptoms and fuelling the false narrative amongst the BAME Community that cancer is not a “black disease”.
Ultimately, this leads to the devastating outcomes of late-stage diagnoses and higher mortality rates in some cancers than with their white counterparts.
“We want the challenges faced by POC going through cancer to be visible so that they feel included and part of the overall cancer narrative (which is imperative for raising awareness in these communities) as well as educating healthcare providers/support services/charities and brands of their needs so they can tailor make services for POC.”
