Researchers reel as Trump administration moves quickly to cut funding and end DEI health programs ‘The work is hard enough to do as it is,’ said one advocate who urged scientists to push back

https://www.statnews.com/2025/01/27/trump-dei-executive-order-quick-nih-funding-cuts/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9jcH9FqKZ1DUvcCQUqL4GgppGkZPJ_ZowpXG1YAT62eGbRAXlI8m5s-iro-blfjoFImmQhi5cEK7Uk9dH3hqNzOmzcKA&_hsmi=344625380&utm_content=344625380&utm_source=hs_email Why are cervical cancer death rates so bad in the Mississippi Delta? While politics over DEI are roiling Washington, work to end racial health disparities continues. This morning, the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic and Social Justice and Human Rights Watch released a report on the findings of 10 community health researchers who spent 18 months interviewing more than 150 women in the Mississippi Delta to understand the factors driving the area's inflated rates of cervical cancer, which are among the nation’s highest. The mortality rate for cervical cancer is 65% higher for Black women than white women. The report found that access to gynecological care was a major reason for the disparities. A cascade of factors are to blame, including Mississippi’s refusal to expand Medicaid through the ACA, which has contributed to rural hospital closures and helped fuel a shortage of OB-GYNs in the state. A lack of access to public transportation and racial discrimination from health providers also limited access, which led to less cancer screening and surgical treatment. Poor access to information on sexual and reproductive health, the report said, is another reason the state is ranked last in the nation in rates of uptake of the HPV vaccine which prevents cervical cancer. — Usha Lee McFarling https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/cervical-cancer/about/key-statistics.html?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8HPoFauVkQCIIO9ezQww5kTKQAizi3oGctut5IA7MTz_DvqpV98KjFGuoLd1lqgYKugz-IkuFjJ-ZJtwPtsnMOGqSw0Q&_hsmi=344625380&utm_content=344625380&utm_source=hs_email