The Biden administration is aiming to reduce cancer death rate in the United States by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden will host an event at the White House Wednesday to reignite the Cancer Moonshot initiative that he launched as Vice President in 2016 with the mission to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer. Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff will attend it.<\/p>\n
The White House announced that a White House Cancer Moonshot coordinator will be appointed in the Executive Office of the President.<\/p>\n
Also, a Cancer Cabinet will be convened by the White House, bringing together departments and agencies across government to address cancer on multiple fronts. <\/p>\n
The President and the First Lady are also announcing a call to action on cancer screening to jumpstart progress on screenings that were missed as a result of the pandemic, and help ensure that everyone in the United States equitably benefits from the tools we have to prevent, detect, and diagnose cancer, the White House said.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that more than 9.5 million cancer screenings were missed in the United States as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n
NCI will organize the collective efforts of the NCI cancer centers, and other networks such as the NCI Community Oncology Research Network (NCORP), to offer new access points to compensate for millions of delayed cancer screenings.<\/p>\n
Federal agencies, led by the NCI, will develop a focused program to expeditiously study and evaluate multicancer detection tests, like they did for COVID-19 diagnostics, which could help detect cancers when there may be more effective treatment options.<\/p>\n
The President’s Cancer panel this week released a report “Closing Gaps in Cancer Screening” laying out recommendations focused on connecting people, communities, and systems to increase equity and access.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration will host a White House Cancer Moonshot Summit, bringing together agency leadership, patient organizations, biopharmaceutical companies, the research, public health<\/span>, and healthcare communities and more to highlight innovation, progress, and new commitments toward ending cancer. <\/p>\n President Biden called on the private sector, foundations, academic institutions, healthcare providers, and all Americans to take on the mission of reducing the deadly impact of cancer and improving patient experiences in the diagnosis, treatment, and survival of cancer.<\/p>\n Fighting the disease is deeply personal for the Bidens and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Bidens lost their eldest son Beau Biden due to brain cancer in 2015 at age 46. Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, died of colon cancer in 2009.<\/p>\n Jill Biden’s advocacy for cancer education and prevention began in 1993, when four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer. Following that year, she launched the Biden Breast Health Initiative to educate Delaware high school girls about the importance of cancer prevention. As First Lady she continues her work emphasizing early detection efforts and the patient, family and caregiver experience with cancer. <\/p>\n Over the first 20 years of this century, the age-adjusted death rate from cancer in the country has fallen by about 25 percent, which means more people are surviving cancer and living longer after being diagnosed with cancer, according to the White House. <\/p>\n