$2M for women's cancer testing

The S.C. Legislature has allocated $2 million to Best Chance Network, a program that provides breast- and cervical-cancer screening for low-income, uninsured women.

The Best Chance Network, part of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, helps women between the ages of 47 and 64 who meet certain income guidelines.

The funding will provide an additional 9,000 women in South Carolina with access to screening, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which implements the program.

The program has relied on federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the first time state funds have been used for screening, a DHEC spokesman said.

By September, DHEC will lower the Best Chance Network eligibility age to 40 to make the program consistent with American Cancer Society screening guidelines.

The Best Chance Network has provided 191,260 screenings since July 1991, said Lisa F. Waddell, DHEC deputy commissioner for health services.

An estimated 2,690 South Carolina women will be diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer this year, and 685 will die of these diseases, according to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts and Figures 2008. The state ranks ninth in the country for deaths because of cervical cancer.

Reach Jill Coley at 937-5719 or jcoley@postandcourier.com.