*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated. 
1993.10.04 :  Expansion of National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program

Contact:  CDC Press Office (404) 639-3286
October 4, 1993

     HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced $18.4 million
in awards to 21 state health departments to expand a national
breast and cervical cancer early detection program.
     The goal of the program is to reduce breast cancer deaths by
30 percent and cervical cancer deaths by more than 90 percent
through increased mammographic and Pap testing.  States are
required to match each $3 of federal funds with $1 of state
funds.
     "More than a half-million women may lose their lives to
these cancers this decade," Secretary Shalala said.  "We are
taking aggressive action now to protect all American women from
diseases that tragically have reached epidemic proportions."
     Forty-five states will now participate in a comprehensive,
strategic approach among government, private sector and voluntary
organizations to bring more women into screening programs.
     Authorized by the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality
Prevention Act of 1990 and administered by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, this program began three years
ago in eight states.  State awards made previously in 1993 total
$44.4 million.
     "The president's health care reform package will remove
financial barriers women face in getting timely mammogram and Pap
tests," Secretary Shalala said, "but that alone won't completely
solve the problem.  Programs like this will be needed to educate
and encourage women to seek these screening services."
     The early detection program relies heavily upon outreach and
educational systems to ensure widespread participation among all
women.  The benefit of such programs are particularly important
for women of racial and ethnic minorities where mortality rates
are disproportionately high.
     Educating health professionals as well as consumers is the
cornerstone of this effort that seeks to guarantee women the most
available, accessible and technically sound screening and follow-
up experience possible.  Sophisticated surveillance and
evaluation systems monitor program progress.
     Funds are provided to states to build programs in two
phases:
     "Comprehensive" awards, supporting fully implemented
programs, averaging $3 million each, went to Massachusetts, New
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
     "Planning" awards, averaging $150,000 went to Alabama,
Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah,
Virginia and Wyoming.
     Although breast and cervical cancers exhibit different
patterns of disease, early detection and prompt treatment can
alter the natural progression of both of these diseases and can
reduce mortality.
     Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women
and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of premature
mortality.  For 1993, the American Cancer Society estimates
181,000 new cases and 46,000 deaths.  Although incidence rates
are increasing, early detection and improved treatment have kept
mortality rates stable over the past 50 years.
     In recent decades, cervical cancer has declined in incidence
and mortality.  Since 1950, the incidence of cervical cancer has
decreased 76 percent and mortality from the disease has decreased
74 percent, attributed to widespread use of the Pap test.
     Since the early 1980s, however, the rate of decline of
invasive cervical cancer has leveled.  The American Cancer
Society estimates 13,500 new cases of cervical cancer and 4,400
deaths in *This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated. 
1993.