HHS requests $10 million for breast and cervical cancer detection programs

Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson on Wednesday requested $10 million in additional federal funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. The program offers pelvic examinations, Pap tests, and mammograms to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women. The additional funding would allow the program to complete an additional 32,000 screenings in fiscal 2004 and would also improve education and outreach programs. Since its creation in 2000, the program has diagnosed about 800 cases of invasive cervical cancer.