Screening is saving more lives

IT’S THE second most common cause of cancer-related death in Australia, but with early detection bowel cancer can be managed successfully.

If more Australians understood better the benefits of bowel cancer screening, more lives could be saved.

It’s free and simple to do. During this year Australians aged 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72 and 74 will be invited to screen using the home test kit.

The test kit contains a full instruction booklet, a zip-lock bag, two flushable collection sheets, two sampling sticks and sterile collection tubes, two identification stickers for the collection tubes, two transportation tubes, and a prepaid envelope and checklist with which to return your samples. The new national Bowel Cancer Screening awareness campaign is being boosted by $10 million from the Federal Government.

“Participation in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program has remained fairly stagnant since 2006, with just four in 10 Australians invited to screen taking up the potentially life-saving opportunity,” Bowel Cancer Australia CEO Julien Wiggins said.

“We will be closely monitoring participation rates to see if this funding will have its desired impact.”

Already there are 17,000 Australians diagnosed with this cancer each year. But, if the screening participation rates increase to 60 per cent, more than 83,000 lives can be saved by 2040.

From the age of 50, the risk of bowel cancer increases. One in 11 men and one in 15 women develop bowel cancer before the age of 85. Visit www.cancerscreening.gov.au.