Bowel Cancer Australia has called for the starting age for bowel cancer screening in Australia to be lowered from 50 to 45.

A national male health screening program has seen 5,000 men referred for potentially life-saving surgery in the UK. The AAA program screens for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, a condition that kills 1,670 men a year.

The program has been so successful that it has the highest take-up rate of any national screening program, proof that men do care about their health and are willing to access help when “the system” targets men effectively and offers help.