Black men in Liverpool are being encouraged to discuss their risk of prostate cancer at a new free event

‘Discuss your risk’ is the message being given to black men in Liverpool who are invited to find out more about their chance of developing prostate cancer.

One in four black men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime – twice the rate of other men in the population – and men whose brother or father have had the disease or their mother or sister has had breast cancer are more likely to develop it, too.

Black men over the age of 45 are being encouraged to check their risk with an online tool and to speak to their local GP surgery to discuss their risk of prostate cancer with a clinician if they are concerned.

Cheshire & Merseyside Cancer Alliance (CMCA) has joined with Prostate Cancer UK (PCUK) to highlight the issue with a local campaign – called Discuss Your Risk – running in March, Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, with events where black men can find out more information.

One of the events is a Be Prostate Cancer Aware Health Talk at the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre in Liverpool, on Thursday 3rd March, 2022 from 11am to 3pm.

The event is for black men, their friends and family, and includes advice, discussion, entertainment – including the premiere of a film dramatisation of the issue within an African context – and African-themed refreshments.

Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson, Liverpool poet Levi Tafari  and former prostate cancer patient Selwyn Sylvester have each filmed video messages urging black men to attend the event. 

Modupe Dosunmu, CMCA Senior Project Manager, said:

“Prostate cancer affects 1 in 4 men from Black African, Caribbean and Black British communities, which is higher than the 1 in 8 men from other communities. Black men are also less likely to act on their symptoms and visit the doctor, which means that if they have cancer then this can be harder to treat.

“Most men with early prostate cancer have no symptoms at all. This is why it is so important for them to know that their ethnicity puts them at higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer and act on it. Prostate cancer treatment can be very successful when found and treated early.

“So, we would like to invite black men to our Be Prostate Cancer Aware Health Talk event so they can find out more information, talk to experts and prostate cancer survivors and discuss their risk with both primary and secondary care clinicians under one roof. There will be lots of information and it will be fun, too. Please come to be more prostate cancer aware.”

The Be Prostate Aware Health Talk is on Thursday, March 3rd, from 11am to 3pm, at the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, 4 Princes Road, Liverpool L8 1TH. It has been organised for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month by CMCA, PCUK, community organisations, local GP surgeries and Central Liverpool and Picton Primary Care Networks.

The organisations include BHA For Equality, Healthwatch Liverpool, Liverpool Black Men’s Group, Liverpool CCG, Liverpool Arabic Centre, NHS Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services, the NHS, Mary Seacole House, Black Community Wigan, Merseyside Yoruba Community Association, Merseyside Somali and Community Association and The Kingdom Lanterns Evangelical Drama Ministry UK.

People who want to find out more about their prostate cancer risk can:

• Complete the Prostate Cancer UK (30 second) risk checker understand their risk of prostate cancer based on age, ethnicity or family history. See www.prostatecanceruk.org/cmca-risk
• Speak to a Prostate Cancer UK specialist nurse, Monday-Friday 9am-5pm (Wednesday 10am-5pm) on 0800 074 8383. This is also available on live chat, email and social media at https://prostatecanceruk.org/nurses