The five leading causes of death in Shelby County are heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, chronic lower respiratory tract disease, and unintentional injuries such as drug overdoses and motor vehicle crashes.
“We find that access to things like certified mammography facilities are much less available in areas that have concentrated poverty with higher percentages of Black residents,” said Shelley White-Means, executive director of CHEER, the Consortium for Health Education, Economic Empowerment and Research based at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.