The Australian Government will invest $10 million in an advertising blitz to boost participation in the free and life-saving National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.
Cancer Council Australia will use TV, radio, social media and outdoor advertising throughout 2019 to help people better understand the benefits of bowel cancer screening and encourage more people to participate in a program that could save their life. The campaign aims to create awareness about the benefits of early detection, prompt diagnosis and treatment.
Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in Australia with 17,000 people diagnosed each year. From age 50, the risk of bowel cancer increases, with one in 11 men, and one in 15 women, developing bowel cancer before the age of 85.
Symptoms of bowel cancer can often be silent, so screening is absolutely critical for early detection. Testing can even find the early warning signs before bowel cancer develops.
Research shows that 90 percent of bowel cancers can be successfully treated through early detection, reducing the number of family, friends, and loved ones who die each year from the disease.
For more information about the screening program visit: www.cancerscreening.gov.au