North East London Cancer Alliance supports UK Black Pride

UK Black Pride is the world’s largest celebration for LGBTQI+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American and Middle Eastern descent.

After a record-breaking event in 2022, which saw over 25,000 people party in Stratford, UK Black Pride returned to celebrate its 18th year of bringing the community together.

North East London Cancer Alliance was pleased to be involved this year for the first time. The event took place as before in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Newham on 19 August 2023.

The event provided a great opportunity for us to speak to the community about our Best For My Chest campaign, which aims to increase the awareness of eligibility, signs and symptoms, as well as highlight the importance of attending breast cancer screening, when invited, for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Best For My Chest directly addresses the inequalities the LGBTQIA+ community is facing when it comes to accessing life-saving breast cancer screening.

The project is the result of twelve months of engaging with the LGBTQIA+ community to understand in detail the barriers and issues they are facing, so we can make positive changes and a lasting impact. The result is a campaign that is co-designed by volunteers from the local community, which encourages more people to come forward for vital breast screening, which is ultimately saving lives.

We showcased The Best For My Chest campaign on one of the community stalls, in partnership with OUTpatients (previously known as Live Through This) and Black Women Rising, where between us we provided advice, guidance and goodies!

Obi Onyiah, Programme Manager for Prevention, Awareness and Screening, North East London Cancer Alliance, said “The event was a great success, with such a positive atmosphere amongst everyone who attended. It’s always really useful for us to engage directly with our communities to help make sure they are accessing vital life-saving cancer services.  We look forward to attending UK Black Pride again next year.”

For more information about Best For My Chest, visit: https://livethroughthis.co.uk/bestformychest/