More than 135,000 people have signed a petition calling for a national testing program to be prioritized.
The charity Prostate Cancer Research (PCR) has launched a national campaign calling for a testing programme to improve survival rates and quality of life for men in the UK.
The “Proactive For Your Prostate” campaign calls for leveraging recent advances in prostate cancer diagnosis at a national level to eliminate health disparities for men.
A petition signed by more than 135,000 people being delivered to Downing Street today is an urgent call for the Government to implement a national prostate cancer screening programme. It coincides with the launch of the charity’s new campaign, ‘Proactive For Your Prostate’, which aims to address inequalities in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment.
This national screening programme will utilise the latest advances in prostate cancer diagnosis and ensure earlier detection and better outcomes for all men, regardless of where they live.
Prostate cancer screening is currently provided through “informed choice” programs, rather than the universal screening programs used for breast and colorectal cancer. Men over 50 can request prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, but current programs rely on individual awareness and proactiveness, leaving many at-risk men undiagnosed.
Current evidence suggests that the previous risks of overdiagnosis and overtreatment using screening programs based solely on PSA testing have been reduced due to recent changes in clinical practice.
Prostate cancer accounts for 14% of all cancer deaths in men and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK, with one in eight white men, one in four black men and one in 13 men of other ethnicities being diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Older men, those with a family history and those living in deprived areas are at higher risk.
