We are already well into January, but I couldn't let the month pass by without acknowledging a very important event -- National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. This year, an estimated 12,000 new cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed and 4,200 women will die from the disease in this country. The good news is that incidence rates have declined in both white and African-American women over the past several decades, thanks in part to preventive tools such as HPV vaccines and early detection measures including the Pap test. Unfortunately, not every woman has access to these lifesaving screenings and prevention methods. That's why programs like the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) are so critically important. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the breast and cervical program offers cancer screenings to more than 500,000 women across the country every year. The program targets racial and ethnic minorities, who tend to have lower screening rates for these cancers. In October, ACS CAN celebrated the historic 10 millionth screening under the program at an event in DC. However, current funding levels enable fewer than 1 in 5 eligible women to benefit from the program, leaving millions of women without access to critical cancer screening tests. ACS CAN is advocating for federal funding so this program can save more lives. Do you know someone who has had cervical cancer, caught it early thanks to a Pap test or benefited from the breast and cervical program? Leave a comment and tell me your story!
Even as Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, ACS CAN will keep working year-round, across the country and with both state and federal lawmakers, to advance the public policies we know will reduce the burden of breast cancer.