This is how Movember is helping close equity gaps in prostate cancer care
Who you are and where you live shouldn't dictate the quality of care you receive
Where you were born. How much money you make. Your ethnicity, race and gender. These, and other factors, shape the cancer care you receive. But today, Movember pushes back. By investing $5.5m (AUD), over three years, in 18 grants to create more equitable prostate cancer care.
Equity gap? What's that?
The equity gap is made up of factors that can negatively impact a person’s chance at quality healthcare. In prostate cancer care, that includes but isn’t limited to: income, education, location, ethnicity, race, gender and sexual orientation. These factors are unfair and unjust, resulting from systemic issues such as discrimination, policies and social structures.
Who will the grants help?
Who you are and where you live dictates the quality of care you receive. These grants aim to change that, by making prostate cancer care more equitable. Kris Bennet, Director of Prostate Cancer Health Equity at Movember shares who the grants will help: “We’re living in a time of amazing advancements in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and care. Though, the reality is that who you are and where you live dictates the quality of care you receive. To address these inequities, head on, each grant funded by Movember will focus on one or more key populations that are culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), rural and remote, LGBTQIA+, First Nations and Indigenous, Black and Caribbean men or people of low socio-economic status.”
What will the grants do exactly?
Were grants reviewed and approved with community involvement?
Movember recognizes that centring the voices of those closest to the challenges being addressed is essential to advancing health equity. Community voices provide invaluable insights into the barriers, opportunities, and unmet needs within their populations—insights that are often overlooked without intentional engagement.
To ensure the grant recipients reflected the unique needs and priorities of local communities, review panels were held in each participating country (Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom). These panels brought together diverse perspectives, including those of Movember community members with lived experience, health equity advocates, and subject matter experts.
This approach not only strengthens the impact of our funding but also ensures our initiatives align with the lived realities and priorities of the communities we serve.
