Every 15 minutes, a man in the United States dies from prostate cancer. That’s nearly 100 lives lost each day to a disease that is one of the most treatable forms of cancer, with a survival rate of 99% when caught in the earliest stage.
The tragedy isn’t just the number. It’s who is dying, and why.
Black men in America are 70% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and are more than twice as likely to die from it compared to white men. Veterans, too, face significantly higher rates. These are not just statistics. They are our fathers, brothers, mentors, neighbors, and friends. They are men who served our country, built our communities, and loved their families.
These disparities didn’t happen by accident, and they won’t be fixed by chance.
The role of equity and access in prostate cancer treatment
Too often, conversations about health outcomes stay confined to genetics or personal lifestyle. However, we cannot ignore the broader context: Where someone lives, what kind of care they can access, how much trust they have in the health system, and whether they’ve been offered routine screening all factor heavily into their chances of surviving a diagnosis.
The unfortunate truth is that a person’s ZIP code, income level, and race can have as much bearing on their outcome as the stage of their disease.
It’s time we urgently elevate the conversation about access, awareness, and early detection. These are the pillars that can save lives. Yet, across the country, far too many men don’t have access to high-quality, timely care. Many don’t even know they should be getting checked in the first place.
This is why we launched Blitz the Barriers, with a goal of saving 100,000 lives by 2035. This is the most ambitious prostate cancer initiative in U.S. history to date. Through this initiative, we are bringing vital education, screening, and support directly to communities most impacted by prostate cancer. It’s not just about medicine; it’s about listening. It’s about showing up where the need is greatest, building trust, and ensuring no one falls through the cracks because of who he is or where he lives.
Coming together for change
However, this work can’t fall to one organization or a single initiative alone. The solutions must be national and multipronged in scale and rooted in a common understanding that everyone deserves a fair shot at a long and healthy life.
We must collectively utilize our resources and partnerships to support primary care systems and ensure that routine prostate cancer screenings are more widely available, especially in underserved and rural areas. It means encouraging more men to talk openly with their doctors about their risks, family history, and options. It also means increasing investment in education campaigns that meet people where they are, using trusted voices in their own communities.
This is not just a health issue, it’s a human one, and addressing it isn’t about politics, it’s about people. Every man should have the chance to survive prostate cancer. That chance shouldn’t depend on his skin color, his background, his ZIP code, or his bank account.
We have the knowledge. We have the tools. What we need now is the collective will to ensure prostate cancer no longer claims lives simply because of barriers we have the power to break.
Let’s act like lives depend on it, because they do.
