Just one in four Australians is aware that bowel cancer is the nation's second deadliest cancer, according to a new survey.
The lack of awareness reflects alarmingly slow progress in population screening for the disease, Cancer Council Australia said on Wednesday.
A Galaxy survey found only one in four Australians were aware that bowel cancer is the nation's biggest cancer killer after lung cancer.
Cancer Council Australia is calling on the federal government to fully fund a bowel screening program.
"If the national bowel cancer screening program were fully funded and promoted, we would expect public awareness about the impact of bowel cancer to be much higher," chair of Cancer Council Australia's bowel cancer screening committee, Anita Tang, said.
"Yet 14 years after the benefits of screening were confirmed, all we have is a partial program that no longer targets new participants and faces an uncertain future."
The survey found the majority of people thought breast cancer was the biggest killer when, in fact, it is the fourth most deadly, after lung, bowel and prostate cancers.
"Breast cancer advocates have done an excellent job raising breast cancer awareness," Ms Tang said.
"If the Australian government does not announce a plan for the program's implementation in the 2011/12 budget, people affected by bowel cancer will be entitled to ask why they were denied the benefits of population screening."
