Talking Points Men of Color

Contact: Carol Fass, [email protected] Daphne Barahona, [email protected] (212) 691-9707

AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN EXPERIENCE DISPROPORTIONATE RISK FOR DISEASE & DEATH

We’re hearing more about the gender gap in longevity, with women outliving men by more than 5 years. But in Dying to Be Men, author Dr. Will Courtenay demonstrates that the longevity gap between African American men and women – as well as Black and White men – is even bigger. On average, African American men die 6 years younger than White men and 7 years younger than African American women. The gender gap among African Americans remains true for most diseases. Black men, for example, are almost twice as likely as Black women to die from cancer.

 Compared to White men, Black men experience disease earlier, suffer more severe disease, have more complications, and less access to medical care  Black men are also less likely than White men to receive state-of-the-art treatments  Black men are nearly 2½ times more likely to die from prostate cancer than White men and more than 5 times more likely than Asian men to die from the disease.  African American men are 8 times more likely than European American men – and 24 times more likely than Asian American men – to die from HIV disease  Homicide ranks among the 5 leading causes of death only for African American men – not for men of any other ethnic group.  Despite their high risks, 45% of Black men do not have a doctor they see regularly, compared to 33% of White men – which contributes to why Black men are more likely than White men to be first diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer  Among boys, 25% of Blacks and 17% of Whites have no usual source of health care  Among men ages 20 to 29, Whites have 1½ times more doctor visits than Blacks Dying to Be Men pulls back the curtain on how Black men’s beliefs about masculinity directly influence their health. The more traditional a man’s beliefs, the greater his health risks. Dr. Will Courtenay, “The Men’s Doc,” is a leading expert on men’s health and has served on the clinical faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and the University of California, San Francisco, Medical School.