Free screenings highlight prostate cancer risks for Georgia men

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and as the month approaches, advocacy groups and lawmakers are encouraging men to receive screenings.

Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis partnered with Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute to provide free prostate cancer screenings for men.

Ellis told CBS News Atlanta that the work is personal for him.

“I found out last fall that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and I learned early,” Ellis said. “That gave me the opportunity to develop a treatment plan that worked for me.”

The American Cancer Society reports that about one in eight men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis in his lifetime and estimates that nearly 334,000 men will be diagnosed in 2026. 

Dr. Martin Sanda of Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute said Black men are disproportionately affected by the disease.

“They have two to three times the risk of men of other races of developing prostate cancer, and importantly as well, their risk of developing it is at an earlier age,” he said.

ZERO Prostate Cancer reports that Georgia ranks fifth nationally in prostate cancer diagnoses and eighth in prostate cancer deaths.