TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance, and Bexa Equity Alliance To Announce A Partnership to Help Young Black Women Detect Breast Cancer Sooner

TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance (TOUCHBBCA) is teaming up with the Bexa Equity Alliance (BEA) in a strategic partnership to change the game on breast cancer early detection for young Black women. This news will launch at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

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This first-of-its-kind joint initiative is capable of providing millions of Black women, even those high-risk but below traditional screening recommendations, in the United States with life-saving education and early detection opportunities. Together, TOUCHBBCA and the BEA will work with community organizations in major metro centers across the U.S. to significantly expand access to the Bexa Breast Exam targeting Black women. Unlike traditional breast exams, the Bexa Breast Exam is a quick, accurate, painless exam that does not involve radiation and provides women with immediate results.

As partners, the organizations will bring Bexa’s innovative screening technology into TOUCHBBCA’s Black community via its For the Love of My Gurls campaign, which works with young Black women ages 18-35. The Love of My Gurls events will feature Bexa screening opportunities on the spot, thereby addressing the screening gap for young Black women.

Currently, Black women aged 40-49 are 80% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women. Additionally, Black women under 35 get breast cancer at twice the rate of white women and die at 3 times the rate. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive breast cancer sub-type, is more common in young women. Data shows those diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40 are twice as likely to have TNBC than those between the ages of 50 and 64. It’s clear Black women need information about breast cancer much sooner and long before the current guidelines suggest they begin traditional screening. Together, TOUCHBBCA and BEA have the opportunity to bring accessible screening to where young Black women live, work, pray, play, and slay.

The goal of this partnership is to bring attention to these statistics and engage the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries through this initiative. By strategically addressing the three critical pillars of impact—health literacy, early detection, and research—the aim is to increase educational outreach and screening across the United States. With the health education resources of TOUCHBBCA’s For the Love of My Gurls campaign and the screening capabilities of Bexa, this partnership is uniquely positioned to tackle the first two strategic pillars in Q1 2024. This early work will establish the foundation for the initiative’s third pillar – research – which will focus on demonstrating the impact and importance of alternative screening for Black women.

“I am so tired of Black women dying from a disease we don’t need to die from,” says Ricki Fairley, CEO and Co-Founder of TOUCHBBCA. “More effective and earlier screening can help us address these devastating and unnecessary mortality statistics. I am ecstatic that we can make this happen with our awesome partners at Bexa. We will expand our outreach and screening as we continue to host events where Black women live, work, play, pray and slay. We don’t want anyone to die of breast cancer, we just want mortality rate parity for Black women.”

“Bexa is more than just a device, it is a global delivery platform committed to ensuring adoptable and accessible early detection worldwide,” explains Tiara Neal, Executive Director, the Bexa Equity Alliance. “Equity in Action is our brand and our mission. This branded joint initiative will allow for both of our organizations to dramatically deepen and scale our impact, leveraging our aligned missions to create an evidence-based model for breast cancer prevention and detection.”

This partnership is just the start of solving a crisis among Black women facing breast cancer. This collective effort harnesses the strengths of both organizations and rallies the support of the decision makers and communities as needed to leave no woman of color behind.

About Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance

Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance drives the collaborative efforts of patients, survivors, advocates, advocacy organizations, health care professionals, researchers, and pharmaceutical companies to work collectively, with accountability, towards the common goal of eradicating Black Breast Cancer. Though there are numerous breast cancer advocacy groups and stakeholders, there is a dire need to bring all patients, survivors, advocates, advocacy organizations, health care professionals, researchers, and pharmaceutical companies together to serve as allies to fight Black Breast Cancer.

About Bexa Equity Alliance

At the Bexa Equity Alliance (BEA), we believe that every woman deserves access to life-saving care. As Bexa’s nonprofit arm, we advance our shared commitment to Leave No Woman Behind. We work with a growing tribe of Allies and Partners to provide our revolutionary Bexa Breast Exams at no cost to women who are at most at-risk of dying prematurely from breast cancer - women of color and underserved women in economically disadvantaged communities across the world.

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