Press Release

Breast Cancer Screening Efforts Go Nationwide

Secretary Shalala Launches Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Stressing the importance of routine breast cancer screening for all women, HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced the expansion of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program to all 50 states, with $102 million in federal funding for the upcoming year.

Since its first year of operation in 12 states in 1991, this program has provided screening tests to nearly a million medically underserved women.

The announcement came as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month activities were launched nationwide.

"We know that regular mammograms can substantially reduce the chance of death from breast cancer," said Secretary Shalala. "It is important that we reach every American woman with this message. And it is especially important that we reach racial and ethnic minority women throughout our country, because breast cancer mortality among these women is disproportionately high."

The Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, operated by the CDC, serves low income and minority women, older women and those who are uninsured or underinsured. Operating in an increasing number of states each year since 1991, it is going nationwide this month with the addition of programs in Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Wyoming and Washington D.C., as well as the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, Virgin Islands, Hopi Tribe, Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, the Navajo Nation, and Indian Community Health Service.

From its inception through May 1996, the program provided 457,600 mammograms to women. Breast cancer was diagnosed in 2,495 of them.

In addition, Papanicolaou (Pap) tests have been provided to 612,008 women, and 19,166 were found to have a precursor of cervical cancer called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN I, II or III, which can be treated successfully). Almost all deaths from cervical cancer are preventable through widespread use of Pap testing and timely and appropriate treatment. Invasive cervical cancer has been diagnosed in 239 women through the CDC program.

The CDC program provides outreach screening and education programs through a broad array of facilities, including local health departments, community and migrant health centers, private physician offices, family planning and church sponsored clinics, YWCAs, women's shelters and senior centers.

"Public education and outreach have played important roles in the long-term success of this program," said CDC Director David Satcher, M.D. "CDC and its partners have successfully reached medically underserved women with screening through a variety of intensive community-based efforts."

Educating consumers and health professionals is the cornerstone of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) program which enters its second decade of public and professional educational outreach efforts. Two HHS agencies, the CDC and the National Cancer Institute, join with 15 other national organizations as co-sponsors of the October National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is dedicated to increasing awareness of the importance of early detection of breast cancer.

This year, National Mammography Day will be celebrated on Friday, October 18. On National Mammography Day, women across America are encouraged to receive or sign up for a screening mammogram or to make a commitment to get one.

Breast cancer research and screening have been high priorities for HHS under Secretary Shalala. In 1993, she convened a conference to develop a National Action Plan on Breast Cancer, and implementation of the plan is being carried out through a public-private partnership led by HHS' Office on Women's Health. Total HHS discretionary funding for breast cancer research and programs has increased from about $90 million in 1990 to an estimated $507 million in FY 1996.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Although death rates from breast cancer have been declining in recent years, breast cancer accounts for 31 percent of all cancers among women. Epidemiologic studies estimate that breast cancer will be diagnosed in 1.5 million American women in this decade, and that breast cancer will claim nearly half a million lives.

Death rates from the disease are highest among women aged 40 or older and black women as compared to white women for those aged less than 70 years. With proper screening and treatment, however, the chances of surviving breast cancer are improving. For women age

50?-69, regular mammograms can reduce the chance of death from breast cancer by one third or more. Despite these numbers, nearly half of women age 50 and older have not had a mammogram in the past two years.

CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program

Comprehensive Program AWARDED

States and Territories FY 96

Alabama $ 750,000

Alaska $ 1,751,104

Arizona $ 1,100,648

Arkansas $ 1,622,203

California $ 5,950,425

Colorado $ 2,131,985

Connecticut $ 1,400,000

Delaware $ 566,515

Florida $ 2,000,000

Georgia $ 2,516,273

Hawaii $ 750,000

Idaho $ 750,000

Illinois $ 3,050,000

Indiana $ 1,087,484

Iowa $ 1,700,000

Kansas $ 1,500,000

Kentucky $ 1,079,907

Louisiana $ 750,000

Maine $ 1,564,561

Maryland $ 3,705,108

Massachusetts $ 2,597,000

Michigan $ 4,908,000

Minnesota $ 1,488,245

Mississippi $ 750,000

Missouri $ 2,500,000

Montana $ 1,079,907

Northern Mariana Islands $ 200,000

Nebraska $ 1,000,000

Nevada $ 775,344

New Mexico $ 3,475,000

New Jersey $ 2,000,000

New Hampshire $ 1,000,000

New York $ 4,459,537

North Carolina $ 3,400,000

North Dakota $ 733,456

Ohio $ 4,088,387

Oklahoma $ 1,000,000

Oregon $ 2,250,847

Pennsylvania $ 2,010,000

Republic of Palau $ 227,145

Rhode Island $ 994,064

South Carolina $ 2,500,000

South Dakota $ 750,000

Tennessee $ 750,000

Texas $ 4,153,569

Utah $ 1,150,000

Vermont $ 1,052,889

Virgin Islands $ 721,894

Virginia $ 1,000,000

Washington $ 3,250,082

Washington, D.C. $ 500,000

West Virginia $ 2,881,438

Wisconsin $ 2,722,000

Wyoming $ 750,000

Subtotal States and Territories: $98,845,017

American Indian/Alaska Native Organizations

Arctic Slope Native Association $ 300,000

Cherokee Nation $ 244,626

Cheyenne River Sioux $ 182,310

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians $ 287,225

Hopi Tribe $ 282,429

Indian Community Health Service $ 282,429

Maniilaq Association $ 265,900

Native American Rehabilitation

Association of the Northwest $ 152,714

The Navajo Nation,

Division of Health $ 282,428

Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy $ 175,472

Poarch Band of Creek Indians $ 81,481

South Puget Intertribal

Planning Agency $ 283,690

Southcentral Foundation $ 412,430

Subtotal AI/AN Organizations: $ 3,233,134

TOTAL AWARDS: $102,078,151

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES