We've lost too many lives to this largely preventable disease. That’s why we’re continuing our unyielding dedication to increasing screening rates by joining the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, an organization co-founded by the American Cancer Society and the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many other partner organizations in committing to an 80% colon cancer screening rate by 2018.
New American Cancer Society data released earlier this month finds colon cancer incidence rates have dropped 30% in the U.S. in the last 10 years among adults 50 and older due to the widespread uptick of colonoscopy. That means, we’ve seen great success in our efforts to this point, but we can’t stop now.
We’re joining with members of the NCCRT to focus efforts over the next four years on dramatically increasing the U.S. colorectal cancer screening rates and increasing awareness of the potential for early detection and prevention of this cancer. More than 50 organizations have already pledged to embrace the shared goal of increasing national colorectal cancer screening rates to 80 percent by 2018.
“This is one of the great combined public health commitments I have seen in my career and it represents the entire spectrum of organizations who have one goal: to increase colon cancer screening rates,” said Richard Wender, M.D., chair of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable and chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society. “Each organization brings passion, competence, and creativity to our shared effort,” he said.
We’re proud to share this collective commitment to saving lives and look forward to doing our part to move the 80% by 2018 mission forward. Learn more about NCCRT and these efforts at www.nccrt.org. 