91社区 researchers receive funding from the Canadian Cancer Society for cancer equity research
Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from 91社区's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society鈥檚 program. The program supports projects created with people who have worse cancer outcomes because of social and system barriers in Canada.
Research shows that people of South Asian ancestry have more breast cancers diagnosed in advanced stages, fewer breast cancers found through screening, and longer delays in breast cancer diagnosis than people of European ancestry. These gaps lead to more suffering and possibly death from breast cancer. Nowadays, screening is relying more on personal breast cancer risk using technologies such as genetics and artificial intelligence, which may not be designed fairly for South Asian people鈥檚 health. These developments mean that it is important for South Asian individuals to make breast screening participation decisions with their healthcare providers using scientific evidence and what matters most to South Asian individuals.
The project, led by Pahwa with Banerjee鈥檚 support, aims to examine how cultural and gender safety can help South Asian people make the best breast screening choices for themselves. Cultural and gender safety is a safe environment where health care providers are critical about gender norms and their own culture and cultural systems, and where they share power and put antiracism and gender inclusion to action. Cultural and gender safety can support South Asian individuals on navigating breast screening, which can improve South Asian people鈥檚 health.
In collaboration with South Asian community members, the team will do a project in Qu茅bec, Ontario, and British Columbia using methods that focus on culture and gender in health care. The project will find out about the experiences and views of South Asian participants and healthcare providers and then develop recommendations for culturally safe and gender-safe practices in breast screening. By helping to transform how breast screening is done, this project is a key step for the health of South Asian people in Canada.
