• Mission & Governance
• Services Overview
• How to Get Involved
• Standing Committees
• NCSL Foundation

• Issue Areas: A-Z
• State-Federal Relations
• NCSL Standing Committees
• News from D.C. and the States

• About State Legislatures
• Elections, Campaigns & Redistricting
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory
• Web Sites

• Online Guide to NCSL Services
• Staff Sections and Networks
• Meetings & Professional Development
• Staff Directories

• Meetings Calendar
• Online Registration
• Meetings Home Page
• Legislative Summit

• Bookstore
• State Legislatures Magazine
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory

Breast and Cervical Cancer Update

(see map below)

The Toll. In 2000, an estimated 182,800 women will be newly diagnosed with breast cancer and 12,800 diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. More than 45,000 will die from these cancers, especially women of racial and ethnic minority and low-income groups.

Screening Saves Lives. Timely mammography screening could prevent 15% to 20% of deaths of women over age 40 from breast cancer, and almost 100% of women whose cervical cancer is detected in its earliest stages survive.

10 Years of Effort. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), states, territories, and tribes are working to prevent breast and cervical cancer among low-income and uninsured women through CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (see http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/nbccedp/index.htm). The program, established by Public Law 101-354, includes screening, diagnostic and case management services, outreach and educational activities, quality control, professional training, and treatment referral. Screening successes over the program's 10 years (1990-2000) include the following:

• Almost 1.2 million mammograms provided
• About 1.3 million Pap tests provided
• More than 7,300 breast cancer lesions diagnosed
• More than 613 cervical cancers diagnosed

However, at current funding levels, the program has the capacity to screen only 12% to 15% of low-income, uninsured women and does not have the capacity to provide treatment. For insured women, 23 states currently require insurers to include coverage for Pap tests and 48 states require insurers to provide or offer coverage for breast cancer screenings.

For information on state activity related to the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2000, please visit NCSL's webpage at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/cancerch.htm.

For additional information on cancer of all types, contact Stephanie Wasserman. Sources: CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control and the American Cancer Society.