State-based men’s health and prostate cancer initiatives across America are beginning to be seriously affected by budget crises now being addressed by legislatures across the country.
As highlit today in a media release from America’s Prostate cancer Organizations , what is going on in the state of Illinois offers us a critical example. The Illinois legislature is currently working on its budget for next year (the financial year 2011), and a key program threatened is the state’s long-running Prostate and Testicular Cancer Program. This program could be cut in its entirety.
Over the past 10 years, at an average annual cost of about $250,000 per year, the Illinois Prostate and Testicular Cancer Program has underwritten PSA testing and DREs for about 25,000 men in that state. Of those 25,000 men, nearly 1,800 individuals (one man in every 14) had an abnormal PSA blood test or an abnormal DRE – suggesting the possibility that they were at increased risk for prostate cancer.
Like many states across the country, Illinois finds itself in a very serious financial position, with few good options. There are going to be many financial cuts and many consequent hardships. The point being made by America’s Prostate Cancer Organizations is that the program under threat is the only significant male-specific health initiative currently underwritten by the state. For a decade, it has improved the lives of men by initiating, facilitating, and coordinating programs throughout the state to promote awareness and early detection of prostate and testicular cancer. It seems extremely sad that the only significant men’s health initiative in Illinois could be terminated in this manner when other programs for women and children – although cut back – at least remain in place.
According to Thomas Kirk, the president of Us TOO International (which has it’s global headquarters in Illinois), “Prostate cancer is diagnosed in Illinois each year at about the same rate as breast cancer. We implore Governor Quinn and the Illinois legislature to set an example by finding a way to retain this critical men’s health program. Surely we can work together to maintain a social commitment that addresses the specific health needs of men, as well as those of our women and children.”
ZERO – The Project to End Prostate Cancer is coordinating a letter-writing campaign asking Gov. Quinn and Illinois state law-makers to retain funding for this program for 2011 and beyond. We encourage every prostate cancer advocate and survivor in Illinois to click on that link and write to Gov. Quinn and their state legislators.
America’s Prostate Cancer Organizations is a group of independent, not-for-profit organizations that cooperates to foster the development of policies that support the early detection of clinically significant prostate cancer, the effective treatment of men with this disease, and the appropriate education of all men at risk for this disease. The media release that went out this morning was endorsed by Prostate Cancer International and by nine other prostate cancer research, education, support, and advocacy groups. Prostate Cancer International is the parent organization of The “New” Prostate Cancer InfoLink
State-based men’s health and prostate cancer initiatives across America are beginning to be seriously affected by budget crises now being addressed by legislatures across the country.
As highlit today in a media release from America’s Prostate cancer Organizations , what is going on in the state of Illinois offers us a critical example. The Illinois legislature is currently working on its budget for next year (the financial year 2011), and a key program threatened is the state’s long-running Prostate and Testicular Cancer Program. This program could be cut in its entirety.
Over the past 10 years, at an average annual cost of about $250,000 per year, the Illinois Prostate and Testicular Cancer Program has underwritten PSA testing and DREs for about 25,000 men in that state. Of those 25,000 men, nearly 1,800 individuals (one man in every 14) had an abnormal PSA blood test or an abnormal DRE – suggesting the possibility that they were at increased risk for prostate cancer.
Like many states across the country, Illinois finds itself in a very serious financial position, with few good options. There are going to be many financial cuts and many consequent hardships. The point being made by America’s Prostate Cancer Organizations is that the program under threat is the only significant male-specific health initiative currently underwritten by the state. For a decade, it has improved the lives of men by initiating, facilitating, and coordinating programs throughout the state to promote awareness and early detection of prostate and testicular cancer. It seems extremely sad that the only significant men’s health initiative in Illinois could be terminated in this manner when other programs for women and children – although cut back – at least remain in place.
According to Thomas Kirk, the president of Us TOO International (which has it’s global headquarters in Illinois), “Prostate cancer is diagnosed in Illinois each year at about the same rate as breast cancer. We implore Governor Quinn and the Illinois legislature to set an example by finding a way to retain this critical men’s health program. Surely we can work together to maintain a social commitment that addresses the specific health needs of men, as well as those of our women and children.”
ZERO – The Project to End Prostate Cancer is coordinating a letter-writing campaign asking Gov. Quinn and Illinois state law-makers to retain funding for this program for 2011 and beyond. We encourage every prostate cancer advocate and survivor in Illinois to click on that link and write to Gov. Quinn and their state legislators.
America’s Prostate Cancer Organizations is a group of independent, not-for-profit organizations that cooperates to foster the development of policies that support the early detection of clinically significant prostate cancer, the effective treatment of men with this disease, and the appropriate education of all men at risk for this disease. The media release that went out this morning was endorsed by Prostate Cancer International and by nine other prostate cancer research, education, support, and advocacy groups. Prostate Cancer International is the parent organization of The “New” Prostate Cancer InfoLink