Whether it is other philanthropists, local or regional health centers, or state and federal officials, there is a desperate need for creative solutions to getting more people screened and saving more lives. Smith’s initiative is an innovative approach, but there are other ways to spread awareness and boost screenings in the Black community.
With the most recent collaboration between Pfizer Rare Disease and the Black Press, the organizations embarked on a mission to educate and raise awareness to transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy – or ATTR-CM. “ATTR-CM is a rare, life-threatening, underrecognized, and underdiagnosed type of amyloidosis that affects the heart and it is associated with heart failure,” Dr. Kevin Williams, Pfizer’s chief medical officer, told the NNPA in a live interview.
At present the CDC has noted that those with chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, serious heart conditions, those immunocompromised including cancer treatment, severely obese, diabetic, with renal failure, or liver disease are at higher risk for severe illness. That warning should be clearly heard by the African American community. We are 2.2 times more likely to have diabetes, 20% more likely to have high blood pressure, and 30% more likely to be obese. The incidence of COPD (lung disease) in our women is 34% higher than in White women. Bottom line, if we acquire the virus, bad things are more likely to happen. That’s pass number one.