Announcement: Prostate and Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month --- September 2011

Weekly

September is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month. Both observances are aimed at increasing public understanding of these cancers.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer (excluding skin cancer) among men in the United States. In 2007 (the most recent year for which data are available), 223,307 new cases were diagnosed, and 29,093 men died of the disease in the United States (1). In the absence of scientific consensus on the effectiveness of screening, CDC supports research to build the science base for prostate cancer control and is developing educational materials about the benefits and risks of prostate cancer screening, so that each man can discuss it with his health-care provider and make his own informed decision.
In 2007, a total of 80,976 women in the United States were diagnosed with some form of gynecologic cancer, and 27,739 women died from the disease (1). To raise awareness about the five main gynecologic cancers (cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar), CDC, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health, established the Inside Knowledge: Get the Facts about Gynecologic Cancer campaign. The campaign educates women and health-care providers about the signs, symptoms, risk factors, and prevention strategies associated with gynecologic cancers. Inside Knowledge encourages women to pay attention to their bodies and know what is normal for them, so they can recognize possible symptoms of gynecologic cancers early, leading to earlier diagnosis and more timely treatment.
Additional information is available at http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prostate and http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/gynecologic.

Reference

1. US Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 1999--2007 incidence and mortality web-based report. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Cancer Institute; 2010. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/uscs. Accessed August 23, 2011

Announcement: Prostate and Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month --- September 2011 September 2, 2011 / 60(34);1170