Why bowel screening is important

Bowel cancer screening can detect cancers at an earlier stage, when treatment can be more successful.

If detected early, bowel cancer can be successfully treated in more than 90% of cases. Earlier diagnosis also means treatment can be less invasive.

Bowel cancer currently kills more people in NSW than prostate cancer, breast cancer or melanoma, and it accounted for 10.3% of all cancer diagnoses in NSW in 2020.

Only 40.5%25 of eligible people in NSW take part in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program

Despite this, currently only 40.5%[1] of eligible people in NSW take part in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program—much lower than screening for breast or cervical cancer.
 

"Bowel cancer  hasn’t had as much publicity as some other cancers, which could be why people underestimate it.
We need to correct the gaps in awareness to significantly increase the numbers of people screening and in turn reduce the numbers of people dying from this disease."

Sarah McGill, Director of Cancer Screening and Prevention
 


Watch our video about taking part in bowel screening

Source(s):

[1] Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021. National Bowel Cancer Screening Program: monitoring report 2017. Cancer series no.132. Cat. no. CAN 139. Canberra: AIHW.

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Tags: Bowel Bowel screening
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