Bowel cancer is Australia’s second biggest cancer killer. It kills more people in NSW than prostate cancer, breast cancer or melanoma. Despite this, currently only 38% of eligible people in NSW take part in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (the Program).
The Program is an Australian Government initiative that sends out free bowel cancer screening tests to eligible Australians aged 50–to74 every two years. 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.
For more information about how simple it is to do the test, visit https://www.cancer.nsw.gov.au/how-we-help/screening-and-early-detection/bowel-screening/do-the-test