Why is Scotland Launching a Bowel Cancer Campaign?

The CEO of Bowel Cancer UK, Deborah Alsina, recently made a statement claiming that the Detect Cancer Early awareness campaign was being supported by the charity. She stated that bowel cancer is extremely treatable if caught early, so it’s vital that people receive a screening kit in order to be tested for the disease and to hopefully save more lives as a result. Studies suggest that people are more than 50 percent more likely to survive the disease today than they were 30 years ago, and this is due to a better understanding of the signs and more effective treatments. The Scottish government is to launch a new campaign to increase awareness and help people understand the screening process – it will launch on Monday. From April, the bowel screening programme will be extended to people over the age of 74. At present, people aged between 50 and 74 are invited to participate in a screening every two years.

 

Experts hope that this drive will help to place more importance on the importance of screening and early detection. Health Secretary Alex Neil explained that the statistics for early detection are so promising that people should be made more aware of the life-saving tests available to detect this disease early. The screening programme offers the best chance of detecting bowel cancer early and is treatable in these stages – nine out of ten people beat it when diagnosed early on. In 2010, a study confirmed that only 15 percent of bowel cancer diagnoses were detected in the earliest and most treatable stage – however, cancer was almost twice as likely, at 28 percent, to be diagnosed at this stage through screening. Colorectal cancers killed 1,526 people in Scotland in 2011, however the overall cancer death rates have fallen by 12 percent in the past decade. If you think you have the symptoms of bowel cancer, it’s advised that you speak to your GP as soon as possible to be tested.

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