BOSTON (WWLP) - Thursday is Prostate Cancer Awareness Day at the State House, and lawmakers are speaking out about the importance of early and frequent screening. In the United States, 1 in every 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and in Massachusetts, about 133 in every 100,000 men wi ll be diagnosed in their lifetimes. This means about 6,420 men will be diagnosed this year in Massachusetts, and about 700 will die. Black men are over 2 times more likely to die from this cancer, and it is primarily due to lack of early detection. The speaker of the House gave remarks at the event, speaking about House efforts to combat racial inequities in other healthcare scenarios, like during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Unfortunately, many of these same inequities can also be found in the fight against prostate cancer," said Speaker Ron Mariano. Racial inequities in prostate cancer are especially pronounced in western Massachusetts. Springfield Representative Williams says prostate cancer death rates are much higher than average in the western part of the state for all groups of men but are especially dire for men of color. "Hampden County leads the state in prostate cancer mortality in black and Hispanic men. Unacceptable," said Representative Bud Williams. Thursday's awareness day and event are focused on making sure Massachusetts men are aware of their chances of getting prostate cancer and encouraging early and frequent screening. When it is caught early, and when the cancer is confined to just the prostate gland, prostate cancer is almost always curable. Local News Headlines Advocates speak out on the possibility of SNAP and other food security benefits facing cuts West Springfield detective reassigned following internal investigation into misconduct Above-average rainfall helps ease drought in Massachusetts Prostate Cancer Awareness at the State House WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com. ...read more read less