ASCO HAS KICKED OFF its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 advocacy campaign in support of increased funding for federal cancer research. ASCO is urging Congress to provide $41.6 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—a $2.5 billion increase from FY 2019— and $6.5 billion to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Thanks in large part to activities funded by the NIH and NCI, more Americans are surviving cancer. Since 1991, there has been a 27% decline in cancer death rates, and today, there are 15.5 million cancer survivors alive in the United States. Research funded by the NIH and NCI has led to important prevention and treatment advances that are transforming cancer care.
Congress has shown bipartisan support for our nation’s investment in cancer research by passing four annual consecutive funding increases for the NIH and NCI. However, despite this progress, more work is needed. Considering biomedical inflation, the NIH’s purchasing power has only now reached prerecession levels, and the NCI still has a $1.1 billion shortfall.
ASCO members can support the Society’s federal research funding advocacy efforts by:
• telling Congress why funding for the NIH and NCI is critical to continue progress against cancer through ASCO’s ACT Network
• using the hashtag #LiveToConquerCancer on social media to share why you support federal research funding
• sharing your story about why you live to conquer cancer (many of the stories will be posted on asco.org and ASCO Connection)
• watching and sharing videos from ASCO’s I Live to Conquer Cancer campaign.
Bookmark ASCO in Action for updates on the congressional appropriations process and other cancer policy news. ■
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