General News
24 April, 2026
Early detection can help save lives
WARRNAMBOOL residents aged between 45 and 74 are being urged to participate in the National Bowel Cancer screening program.
Cancer Council Victoria has this month relaunched a campaign to highlight the importance of bowel cancer screening.
Figures from 2023-24 showed the participation rate for people in Warrnambool was 47.5 per cent.
This current campaign also has an expanded focus on Victorians aged 45-49, amid low participation among this age group.
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows that only 11 per cent of Victorians aged 45-49 have ordered a free bowel screening test kit in the first year of expanded access, underscoring the need to encourage uptake among younger Victorians.
In July 2024, the age eligibility for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) was lowered to allow people aged 45-49 to request a free bowel screening test kit in the mail.
Encouragingly, 42 per cent of those who requested a kit have completed it.
In 2024, 3780 Victorians were diagnosed with bowel cancer and sadly 1269 people died from it, making bowel cancer the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Victoria.
However, if detected early, more than 90 per cent of bowel cancer cases can be successfully treated.
Cancer Council Victoria’s head of screening, early detection and immunisation Kate Broun urged eligible Victorians (especially those aged 45-49) to prioritise bowel screening.
“Doing the bowel screening test every two years when you’re due can help detect bowel cancer early and before symptoms appear,” Ms Brown said.
“We know that early detection of cancer saves lives, and this free and easy test is one of the best ways to protect yourself from bowel cancer.
“Extending bowel cancer screening to people aged 45-49 presents a crucial opportunity to detect bowel cancer earlier when it’s easier to treat. I urge anyone aged 45-49 to order this free lifesaving test today and complete it as soon as it arrives.”
To help encourage people aged 45 to 49 to prioritise bowel screening, Cancer Council Victoria, in partnership with the Victorian Department of Health, has relaunched its successful bowel cancer screening campaign.
The campaign features the inspiring story of father of two Laurie Cronin, whose life was saved by doing the free bowel screening test.
Thanks to this awareness raising campaign in 2023, the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer has estimated 25,080 additional Victorians were inspired to complete and return a bowel screening test.
Modelling by the University of Sydney and the Daffodil Centre showed that this campaign will help save the lives of 115 people by finding early signs of cancer before symptoms appear and through treatment of precancerous lesions.
Minister for Health, Mary-Anne Thomas, said preventative health campaigns were essential for promoting cancer screening and raising awareness of early detection.
“We’re backing Cancer Council Victoria to help raise awareness of this life-saving test available to use at home at no cost – so we can reduce the rates of bowel cancer in Victoria,” Ms Thomas said.
A campaign has also been designed to connect with Victoria’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Participation in bowel screening is substantially lower among people who speak a language other than English at home (24–31 per cent) compared with English speakers (44–47 per cent), and diagnoses with late-stage disease is more common among migrants from South-East Asia and Eastern Europe.
Cancer Council Victoria aims to address these disparities and increase uptake by delivering culturally tailored, in-language information.
People aged 45-49 can request their first bowel screening kit through the National Cancer Screening Register, while people aged 50-74 receive the bowel screening kit in the mail every two years.
To learn more about bowel screening, head to cancervic.org.au/bowel.
To request a bowel screening test kit, visit ncsr.gov.au/boweltest or call the National Cancer Screening Register on 1800 627 701.
