It's a test that can save lives and SBS journalist Anton Enus is convinced the test saved his.
Mr Enus has been on extended leave while being treated for bowel cancer and after 18 months of therapy, he recently got the all clear from his doctors.
He says had he not tested and discovered the cancer relatively early, he probably would have died prematurely.
"I'm really, really glad and thankful that I took those five minutes to do the sample because I had no symptoms, I had no advance warning, I had no discomfort, but I did have bowel cancer. So, I've got no doubt at all in my mind that the screening program gave me the best shot at a good outcome and I also have no doubt that it saved my life." Mr Enus says.
Last year, 40 per cent of survey respondents who received a free government bowel cancer screening kit said they igrnored it because they were too busy to take the test, which takes less than five minutes.
The manager of the Bowel Cancer Screening Program in New South Wales, Chris Horn, says he hopes public awareness campaigns will see more Australians take the test.
"Ideally, we'd really like to see participation up to 60 per cent by 2020. We've seen some recent modelling published that shows that if we can get up to 60 per cent participation by 2020, we can save up to almost 84-thousand lives in Australia over the next 25 years." Mr Horn says.
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