STAT+: States anxiously wait to find out if cancer tracking and prevention funding from CDC will be renewed
State cancer registries are facing the prospect of funding cuts as CDC decisions near.
State workers who for decades have been pivotal in identifying U.S. cancer trends, curbing new cases, and improving screening fear their federally funded programs could be deeply cut or eliminated altogether come July.
By next week, state and local programs that work on cancer are supposed to find out if their annual allocations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be renewed. Typically, they would’ve heard by now. But several officials who run those registries told STAT they are bracing for cuts, given that Health and Human Services Department budget proposals thus far reflect a turn away from chronic disease programs at the CDC — and the possible elimination of longstanding cancer prevention work.
The pot of money, which was appropriated by Congress for work through September, also covers national programs that offer breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment for poor Americans, and funds cancer control efforts at the state level. Advocates describe a dire situation if the funding is killed.
