Vice President Joe Biden and the National Cancer Moonshot Task Force recently announced recommendations for accelerating progress related to cancer in the next five years.
“We know that about half of cancer deaths could be prevented through early detection, living a healthy lifestyle and getting access to the best treatment,” Rich Wender, chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society, said. “The task force recommendations shine an important light on specific steps that can be acted upon immediately that to exponentially reduce the cancer burden in this country.”
Among other recommendations, the task force suggests HPV vaccination rate and colorectal cancer screening increases. Additionally, the task force wants to remove access barriers to tobacco cessation for Medicaid enrollees.
“The task force report truly underscores the tremendous opportunity we have to apply what we know and reinvigorate the resources necessary to promote additional discovery,” Gary Reedy, CEO of the American Cancer Society and American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said. “With the vice president’s continued leadership and a desire across the country to make eliminating this disease a national priority in the coming years, our potential to end cancer as we know it is at hand.”
