Biden Declares September National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday declared September National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, saying it should be a time to “redouble our efforts” to understand the disease, develop innovative treatments and make care more affordable and accessible.
Ending cancer has been a top priority for Biden for years, who has called the battle against it, “personal to my family, as it is for millions of Americans.”
In 2016, while he was still vice president, Biden and then Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden, launched the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, setting a goal of cutting the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years.
Since becoming president, Biden has made the fight against cancer a pillar of the “unity agenda” he rolled out during his first State of the Union address, and he’s created a new Cancer Cabinet to ensure that federal agencies can better coordinate research and development.
The president also noted Wednesday that with bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, his administration has secured $1 billion in funding to launch the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which will develop cutting-edge cancer medicines, therapies, and early detection technologies.
“While our nation’s scientists push hard to find cures, we must also safeguard protections for patients with preexisting conditions and make treatments more affordable for individuals diagnosed with prostate cancer,” Biden asid.
“No one should worry about whether they can pay for their doctor or choose between filling a prescription and putting food on the table. The provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will fulfill my promise to make prescription drugs more affordable for millions of Americans — many of whom are living with illnesses like cancer — by capping out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000. And it will finally allow Medicare the ability to negotiate prescription drug prices.
“We must also increase awareness about the symptoms of prostate cancer so it can be detected and treated as early as possible,” he continued.
“And it is important that we acknowledge how prostate cancer affects us unequally. Men over the age of 65, men who have a family history of prostate cancer, and Black men are most likely to be diagnosed and to die from this disease.
“I encourage these and all Americans to talk to their primary care providers about the risk factors for prostate cancer, ask about opportunities for screenings, and learn more about this disease at cancer.gov/types/prostate and cdc.gov/cancer/prostate.”
“During this National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, let us mourn those we have lost, offer strength to those who continue to fight, thank the health care workers who battle this disease to give others a chance at life, and join forces as one to protect the health of future generations,” Biden said.
According to the National Cancer Institute, prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that all men are at risk for prostate cancer.
According to the CDC website, 13 out of every 100 American men will get prostate cancer during their lifetime, and about 2 to 3 of those men will die from the disease.
The most common risk factor is age. The older a man is, the greater the chance of getting prostate cancer, the agency said.
Some men are at increased risk for prostate cancer. You are at increased risk for getting or dying from prostate cancer if you are African-American or have a family history of prostate cancer.
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