‘Better and cheaper’: the case for prostate cancer screening among black men

‘A screening programme saves more of the man’: Junior Hemans was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Junior Hemans was having a routine health check in 2014 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, at the age of 51. He knew there was an increased risk of the disease in black men so asked to have a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, which was not initially included.

“And when I went, they said I had a raised PSA level for my age,” Hemans said. “[The diagnosis] was a shock … because I had no symptoms.”