With the signature pink ribbons and viral “Check Your Boobies” campaigns, Breast Cancer Awareness Month does its job really well every October. Most people are pretty, well, aware of this disease. With increased awareness has come increased funding. Less welcomed, though, is the increased risk for false-positives and over diagnosis. Upon recent analysis of these facts, the American Cancer Society made big news when they loosened their guidelines for breast cancer screening.
The high level of awareness, coupled with a relatively high incidence rate, has contributed to large amounts of funding, as shown below. However, given the relatively low mortality rate, breast cancerreceives a lot of money.
Some cancers aren’t quite so lucky. Though prostate cancer also has its own awareness month (September), it hasn’t quite hit its pink-ribbon stride — it is among the six deadliest, underfunded cancers.
To measure this, the experts at HealthGrove used data from the National Cancer Institute to determine the average amount of funding any cancer receives per life it takes. Then, they compared the funding of each specific cancer to this average. The deadliest, underfunded cancers are those with the greatest negative discrepancy. For the number of lives these diseases take, they have received the smallest relative amounts of funding.
#6. Prostate Cancer
Total Deaths in 2012: 30,243
Total Funding in 2014: $253,735,003
Funding Per Death: $8,390
Mortality Rate: 10 per 100K people
#5. Uterine Cancer
Total Deaths in 2012: 7,212
Total Funding in 2014: $56,850,394
Funding Per Death: $7,882
Mortality Rate: 2 per 100K people
#4. Colo-Rectal Cancer
Total Deaths in 2012: 46,173
Total Funding in 2014: $270,718,265
Funding Per Death: $5,863
Mortality Rate: 15 per 100K people
#3. Liver Cancer
Total Deaths in 2012: 19,914
Total Funding in 2014: $73,796,311
Funding Per Death: $3,706
Mortality Rate: 6 per 100K people
#2. Pancreatic Cancer
Total Deaths in 2012: 34,582
Total Funding in 2014: $122,946,131
Funding Per Death: $3,555
Mortality Rate: 11 per 100K people
#1. Lung Cancer
Total Deaths in 2012: 141,219
Total Funding in 2014: $254,047,895
Funding Per Death: $1,799
Mortality Rate: 45 per 100K people
